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PCAST is the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and today the Whitehouse has made public their recommendations to the HHS and the Federal government on ways to deal with the pandemic this fall.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________For Immediate Release August 24, 2009
Administration’s H1N1 efforts to date praised
Additional recommendations made to improve monitoring and strengthen medical response
WASHINGTON – A Presidential advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers today released a new report assessing the Obama Administration’s preparations for this fall’s expected resurgence of 2009-H1N1 flu and outlining key steps officials can take in the coming weeks and months to minimize the disease’s impact on the nation.
The Federal Government’s preparations for 2009-H1N1 flu have been well-organized and are scientifically grounded, according to the report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which assembled a subcommittee of experts on influenza and public health for the purpose. (PCAST is an independent group of leading scientists from academia and industry administered by the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.) But some aspects of those preparations could and should be improved or accelerated, the group concluded.
"As the nation prepares for what could be a challenging fall, it is crucial that our public health decisions are informed by the very best scientific and technological information," said John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and a co-chair of PCAST.
The report concludes that the 2009-H1N1 flu is unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19. But in contrast to the benign version of swine flu that emerged in 1976, the report says the current strain "poses a serious health threat" to the nation. The issue is not that the virus is more deadly than other flu strains, but rather that it is likely to infect more people than usual because it is a new strain against which few people have immunity. This could mean that doctors’ offices and hospitals may get filled to capacity.
To see the PCAST Recommendations and Administration Progress, click here (pdf).
To see the full report, click here (pdf).
For more about PCAST, visit: http://www.ostp.gov/cs/pcast.
