Fighting Bioterrorism
Even after the anthrax attacks of 2001, most cities do not have the necessary equipment to determine what kind of hazardous materials emergency responders are facing in the event of a biological or chemical attack and hospitals are ill-prepared to respond. Nationwide, only six states have enough laboratory capacity to deal with the type of public health emergency caused by a bioterrorist attack, and only two have enough public health workers to distribute vaccines in response to an attack. Democrats are working to protect America against bioterrorist attacks.
Preparing our hospitals. A chemical, biological or radiological attack would be sudden and devastating to our communities. America's health care system is already stretched to capacity. Democrats want to ensure that hospitals can accommodate potentially large increases in patients and that they have the tools needed to diagnose and respond to the effects of a potential attack.
Developing vaccines. The threat of bioterrorism is real, but we are not prepared to respond to the potential biological attacks that we face., The Defense Science Board estimates that we need 57 vaccines and antidotes to defend ourselves against bioterrorist threats. However, the Bush Administration has proposed the development of vaccines for only five pathogens in the next decade. Democrats want to implement a plan that produces the medicines we will need to counter the bioterror threat.
Increasing funding for NIH and FDA. Medical researchers need funding to conduct bioterrorism research and procure anthrax vaccine so the FDA can secure the safety of the food supply and purchase other vaccines.
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