TThe White House office responsible for preparing for the next pandemic is located in a wide, black-and-white hallway in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Its windows overlook an alley towards the west wing. In recent months, staff there have been busy coordinating with state and federal agencies in responding to the alarming spread of bird flu in the United States, where the virus has jumped from chickens and cows to farmworkers.
By Inauguration Day on Monday, most of the epidemic control office’s staff will have vacated their offices. The office, formally known as the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, or OPPR, is losing more than half of its 18-person staff as the Biden administration hands over duties to a Trump administration that has yet to fill several major pandemics. Response positions, according to two Biden administration officials. The political appointees in charge of the office — Director Paul Fredericks and Deputy Director Nikki Romanek — are leaving to make room for potential Trump appointments, and many of the office’s 14 career staffers whose assignments in the White House office were temporary are returning to work. Their home agencies.
For months, health experts have worried about what a Donald Trump victory would mean for the federal government’s pandemic planning apparatus. His selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic with a history of spreading false medical theories, as health secretary drew attention to himself. But the uncertain future of OPPR, seen by some as the spearhead of the federal government’s pandemic response, also raises concerns. Trump’s transition team did not respond to multiple requests for comment on its plans for the pandemic office
Trump eliminated a similar office in the White House after becoming president in 2017, a move noted by health experts. Argue Contributed to the federal government’s patchy response in 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the epidemic expanded that year, Trump claimed that the virus would “go away without a vaccine” and suggested during a White House press conference that the virus could be neutralized by injecting bleach.
Biden’s first executive order as president in 2021 restored the office, and Congress added more resources and officially named it the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. But Trump told Time magazine in April that he saw the office as “a vehicle to distribute pork.” Asked whether he would disband the OCD again if he returned to the White House, Trump said: “Yes, I probably would, because I think we’ve learned a lot and we can mobilize.”
Biden administration officials told TIME they are concerned that a Trump White House will not invest enough time and energy to stave off the next pandemic. A Biden administration official said OPPR is coordinating efforts across federal agencies and with state governments to ensure “no balls are dropped.” “Not having a group focused on that would be a mistake.”
It cost about $2 million to operate the office last year, according to a Biden administration official. Last year, Biden called on Congress to allocate $6.2 million to boost employment in 2025. Since Congress has formally approved the current version of the office, Trump won’t be able to eliminate it entirely on his own, as he did in 2018. But he may starve. of resources and not naming senior leaders to manage it, which would reduce its effectiveness.
Supporters of OPPR point to its work in recent months to address the spread of a deadly strain of bird flu, which was first discovered infecting U.S. dairy cows in March. So far, the virus has primarily affected workers who handle animals and has shown no signs of human-to-human spread. But at least 66 human infections have been reported in the United States, most of them dairy workers. This month, the Louisiana Department of Health announced the first death in the United States due to the virus, a 65-year-old man who was exposed to it through birds in the backyard.
As cases of bird flu emerged in multiple states, the Pandemic Office organized the federal response across multiple government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Agriculture. Friedrich, the outgoing OPPR director, said in a statement to TIME that the office “has stood by — and continues to coordinate with — the Interagency Response Team to protect public health, protect our nation’s food supply, and monitor all trends to prevent the spread of birds.” flu.”
The federal response included monitoring large agricultural operations for bird flu outbreaks, compensating farmers for killing infected livestock to stop the spread of the disease, and sending protective equipment to states where outbreaks of the disease among livestock occurred. OPPR also worked with states to expand monitoring of batches of milk leaving dairies, to help detect signs of infected cows.
“While the CDC indicates that the risk to the general public is low, keeping communities healthy, safe and informed remains a top and urgent priority,” Fredericks said.
The White House Epidemiology Office also laid the groundwork for a vaccine response to a potential bird flu pandemic. It has overseen payments to pharmaceutical companies to stockpile millions of additional doses of the standard H5N1 vaccine in case it is needed, and has worked with Moderna to produce an mRNA vaccine in case the virus mutates again and becomes more transmissible. “The outbreak just highlights the urgency of having an office like this,” said one epidemiologist familiar with the office’s bird flu preparations, who requested anonymity to avoid confronting Trump officials who might think otherwise.
The White House office also worked closely with other countries on the global response to outbreaks of the deadly Marburg virus, smallpox, and Lassa fever.
After Trump is sworn in as president on Monday, OPPR will continue to operate, but what type of staff and resources it will have remains unclear. White House press secretary Kelly Scully says preparing for biological threats that could lead to another pandemic has been a top priority for the Biden administration. “It must remain one for the health and safety of the American people,” she adds.