One year into the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdowns, Congressman Bill Posey has introduced a bill called the Pandemics Require Evaluating, Planning, And Responding Effectively (PREPARE) Act. H.R. 834 would establish a bipartisan National Commission on the COVID-19 Pandemic to conduct an investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and a review of the government’s public health response.
TAKE ACTION: Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor the PREPARE Act (H.R. 834) to establish a bipartisan National Commission on the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Wow! This is a long-time coming, but there is finally a bill calling for an investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and a review of the government’s public health response to the pandemic. With the PREPARE Act, all the questions we’ve had since the pandemic began could finally be answered, including:
What caused COVID? Did SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, emerge naturally in Wuhan through human contact with wildlife? Or, did it originate in a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the global epicenter of bat coronavirus collection and experimentation, including bat breeding and gain-of-function research to increase the pandemic potential of dangerous bat coronaviruses?
Did the pandemic response protect public health? Did travel restrictions, testing, social distancing, hand-washing, mask-wearing, disinfecting, stay-at-home orders, school closures and business shutdowns prevent hospitalizations and deaths? Were essential workers and vulnerable populations adequately protected? Did the public get the information and resources needed to stay healthy? What can we learn from the data on transmission, cases, and COVID-related deaths? Were there negative public health impacts of the coronavirus response that were overlooked or underestimated?
Did COVID patients get the most effective medical treatments? Were first-responders, hospitals and care homes prepared to handle COVID? How well did they aid recovery and reduce mortality? What was the quality and effectiveness of the treatments they provided? Which treatments worked best? What can we learn from data on health outcomes?
Were government resources adequate and used wisely? Were government emergency response programs able to distribute appropriate medicines, medical equipment, protective equipment and other medical supplies to first responders, hospitals and care homes? Were government resources maximized and equitably distributed? Did government investments in surveillance, testing, treatments, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 deliver the best possible value, in public health outcomes for tax dollars spent?
What have we learned that can help us prevent, or respond to, the next pandemic?
It’s time for Congress to create a bipartisan National Commission—with subpoena power—to launch the investigations needed to answer these questions.
Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor the PREPARE Act today.