EFE.- The White House announced this Friday an ambitious plan valued at 65.3 billion dollars, which aims to prepare the United States for a new pandemic with the same dedication with which NASA’s Apollo program sent a man to the Moon.
The plan proposes large investments in medical and technological advances so that the country is not caught by surprise attacks with biological weapons, accidents in laboratories or a new pandemic, which could occur in the next decade and be worse than the current one, according to the White House .
“We firmly believe that this mission is of great importance and should be managed with the same seriousness, commitment and responsibility as President John F. Kennedy’s Apollo program,” Dr. Eric Lander, director of the Office of Politics of the United States, told reporters. Government Science and Technology.
Lander also compared the new plan to the Human Genome Project, which he himself led and which between 1990 and 2003 succeeded in mapping all human genes.
The project is based on five pillars. The first is to transform “the medical defenses” of the country so that there is an authorized vaccine against any new virus only 100 days after it is detected.
In addition, the White House wants to invest in the development of diagnostic tests and treatments against a wide range of pathogens.
Also read: The US is turning the page of the pandemic: White House Covid-19 coordinator
The second pillar is to create mechanisms within hospitals and other centers to detect viruses that can cause a pandemic and quickly warn the world.
Third, the White House proposes to modernize the American healthcare system and remedy the failures that have been exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the lack of medical personnel in some regions and social and racial inequalities.
In this regard, it also proposes the creation of international systems that allow coordinating the investigation of new pathogens and the distribution of vaccines.
The fourth key point of the plan is to increase the United States’ capacity to produce masks and other personal protective equipment, as well as improve the construction of buildings to allow ventilation and pass new regulations that can prevent accidents in laboratories.
Finally, for all the objectives to be realized, the White House wants to create a “solid and unified mission control” that coordinates the activities of different government agencies.
According to Lander, that central control will demonstrate that the plan against pandemics is as important as the Apollo program, which Kennedy announced in 1961 to send a man to the Moon, something that happened in 1969.
The project will cost $ 65.3 billion over 10 years, and the government has already asked Congress to approve $ 15 billion this year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 4.5 million people worldwide, while the United States has recorded 643,000 deaths, according to an independent count from Johns Hopkins University.
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