White House sets plan for biodefense

The White House released its National Biodefense Strategy plan Tuesday morning and President Joe Biden signed a national security memorandum soon afterward. The plan involves 20 federal agencies and sets goals for their responses in the case of a biodefense emergency. The plan starts with detecting biological threats early. It also includes commitments to help more than 50 countries respond to outbreaks. The intent is to stop a potential pandemic from even reaching the United States, and the plan addresses naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate biothreats, according to the White House.

What’s the plan if another pathogen reaches the U.S.? If a pathogen does reach the states, the administration would set a goal to develop tests for the new threat within 90 days, and another goal for new vaccines within 100 days. It also calls for a permanent group of healthcare workers who specialize in biodefense to have a presence in all 50 states. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the “ninja” COVID-19 variant.