Response to the US Senate Request for Information (RFI) on PAHPA Reauthorization, as Submitted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

The Forum would serve as the primary coordinating hub for public and private sector stakeholders executing diagnostic testing plans to ensure real-time information sharing, swift development and scale-up of tests and testing capacity, and clear communications to the public on the state of testing. [...] For example, in the earliest stages of an emergency, when access to patient samples is limited, the Forum would support the work of CDC, FDA, and NIH to facilitate high-value allocation of samples to test developers under contract with the federal government to develop and scale up manufacturing and testing capacity. [...] To build upon Congress’s actions in the FY23 Omnibus under the heading “Ensuring the Availability of Next Generation Masks and Respirators,” the Center for Health Security recommends that Congress require ASPR to assess its stockpile of reusable respirators within the SNS and conduct scenario-based modeling studies to determine the appropriate amount needed for the stockpile. [...] The Center for Health Security recommends that Congress require ASPR to incorporate the purchase and stockpiling of next-generation reusable respirators into the HPP guidance for its cooperative agreements to improve the surge capacity of the healthcare system, to respond to large-scale emergencies and disasters, and to make it less susceptible to supply chain shocks. [...] Then CDC/HHS could make the data available to state and local authorities simultaneously, removing the burden on states and localities to establish separate requirements and mechanisms, and relieving the burdens on data providers to comply with the variable and duplicative requirements of today’s patchwork system.