The US Primary-Care System Can't Withstand the Next Pandemic

An unprecedented strain of bird flu is spreading among dairy cattle in the US. An outbreak of a flesh-eating bacteria has infected more than 1,000 people in Japan. At least 13 communicable diseases including measles, dengue and polio have surged past pre-pandemic peaks in regions across the world. The threat of Covid-19 may have subsided, but myriad public-health challenges have emerged in its wake. So far, none poses as serious a risk. Yet the US public-health system is woefully underprepared for another pandemic.

Once-reliable sources of funding have lapsed amid partisan theatrics. The health-care workforce, after four years of intermittent crisis, appears depleted and demoralized. To its credit, Congress managed to pass pandemic preparedness legislation in 2022. But absent adequate appropriations, many of its far-reaching ambitions — from strengthening the pharmaceutical supply chain to modernizing data collection — will remain unrealized.