Retired Congressman Fred Upton was in Washington on Tuesday for the release of a new report on biothreats to the United States.
Upton served on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, convened to study the possibility of another pandemic and come up with recommendations to respond. Speaking on Michigan’s Big Show, Upton said it’s not a question of “if,” but when.” He pointed to news here in Michigan.
“Look what’s happening here in Michigan now with the bird flu,” Upton said. “Tens of thousands of turkeys and chickens. The story just now on Mpox in New York. Who knows where this thing is headed?
Upton was joined by Dr. Raj Panjabi, a former White House Senior Director for Global Health Security. He said the new report recommends funding research into cleaning air indoors.
“By ensuring that our buildings are — like we do with fireproofing them and earthquake proofing them and flood proofing them — we need to pandemic proof them,” Panjabi said. “So, we’ve called for a new research and development plan with the goal of ensuring we’re using the latest technologies to clean the air from the inside out.”
Panjabi said another recommendation is that Congress regularly fund a pandemic response program that would be capable of quickly developing vaccines for new threats.
Panjabi, too, is concerned about the bird flu problem in Michigan.
