Rebuild trust, increase testing, launch an effective vaccine roll-out strategy, focus on health equity, and reinforce the dependency on science, those are just a few of the cornerstones of President Joe Biden’s 200-page National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. The public health community, including the University of Vermont’s Jan Carney, MD, MPH is breathing a sigh of relief that President Biden and Vice President Harris have pledged to “listen to science” as the United States continues to battle the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Dr. Carney carefully reviewed each of the seven points in Biden’s COVID-19 plan and offered her perspective.
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Goal 1: Restore Trust with the American People
Goal 2: Mount a Safe, Effective Comprehensive Vaccination Campaign
Goal 3: Mitigate Spread Through Expanding Masking, Testing, Treatment, Data, Workforce, and Clear Public Health Standards
Goal 4: Immediately Expand Emergency and Exercise the Defense Production Act
Goal 5: Safely Reopen Schools, Businesses, and Travel, While Protecting Workers
Goal 6: Protect Those Most at Risk and Advance Equity, Including Across Racial, Ethnic and Rural/Urban Lines
Goal 7: Restore U.S. Leadership Globally and Build Better Preparedness for Future Threats
Along with health equity conversations outlined in Biden’s plan, Dr. Carney says that we have social needs such as housing, food insecurity, unemployment, literacy, and basic education that serve as impediments to people being healthy.
As a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Carney says she would like to see Americans embrace public health, understand what public health is, what it does, and why it’s important, so that we can better appreciate public health in our country.
Read about Dr. Carney’s thoughts on how the change in White House Administration could affect public health going forward.
Dr. Carney is the Director of UVM’s Online Master of Public Health Program, and Associate Dean for Public Health and Health Policy at the Robert Larner College of Medicine at UVM.
