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Stalled last year, Pandemic Flu preparation
bill high on
Speaker's agenda
By Kyle Cheney February 6, 2007...An outbreak of a deadly strain of avian influenza in British turkeys over the weekend stoked renewed fears about the potential for a deadly pandemic if the disease becomes transmissible among humans. In Massachusetts, where efforts to approve pandemic flu preparations failed last year, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi wants the Legislature's Committee on Public Health to make pandemic preparedness its top priority of the new session. Last session, the House objected to last-minute Senate amendments to the pandemic preparation bill, which died when the session expired on January 2. That bill would have provided about $8 million for antiviral medication, and $6.5 million for increases in hospital beds, nurse staffing and ventilators. Last February, former Gov. Mitt Romney proposed $36.5 million to prepare for a local outbreak, but legislators balked. Instead, the Committee on Health Care Financing redrafted his bill, and as the session came to a close, they opted to go with the leaner $15 million proposal meant to ensure smoother passage. But the bill never passed. "It is the Speaker's first order of business out of this committee [this session]," said Committee on Public Health co-chairman Rep. Peter Koutoujian (D-Waltham). Speaker DiMasi's aides confirmed Koutoujian's statement. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the avian influenza outbreak among animals in Asia, parts of Europe, the Near East and Africa "is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term." It is likely that H5N1 infection among birds has become endemic in certain areas, the CDC says, and that human infections from direct contact with infected poultry and/or wild birds will continue. The CDC says the spread of the H5N1 virus from person to person so far "has been rare, limited and unsustained" but cautions that avian influenza "continues to pose an important public health threat." Koutoujian said he plans to host a "public health 101" series for fellow legislators and their aides that will include a segment on the flu pandemic "and how to protect your constituents." He has also sponsored legislation aimed at easing access for cities and towns to aid in crises such as pandemic outbreaks. Rep. Patricia Walrath (D-Stow), co-chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, said she hadn't received any indication that legislation would be fast-tracked. Last August, she told the News Service that pandemic preparedness measures urgently needed to pass. "This is not something we can put on the back-burner," she said then. "We have to deal with it in a timely manner." Walrath's counterpart on the committee, Sen. Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge) said that even if the Legislature acts now, it will no longer be eligible for a 25 percent discount on anti-viral medication offered by the federal government. That offer expired December 31, and Moore blames the Romney administration for declining to reserve the supplies. But Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the Legislature's failure to act on pandemic preparedness was "one of the greatest cases of legislative malpractice I've ever seen." "One of the great shames of the past year is that the Legislature has done nothing to help prepare Massachusetts for a pandemic flu outbreak - nothing at all, zero," he said in an email. "Governor Romney held regional planning summits and filed a bill asking for funding to implement a comprehensive plan. The Legislature not only refused to act on the bill, but they proposed no plan of their own." Under the Health Care Financing Committee's pared down bill, an $8 million allocation for antiviral medication was expected to provide for nearly 1.5 million courses of medication, with another 956,000 coming at no cost from the federal government, according to a Ways and Means Committee's report. That would have been enough to provide for 78 percent of the Commonwealth's total projected need. Moore said he has had "preliminary discussions" with the Patrick administration about pandemic preparation. According to a spokeswoman for Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, the secretary has not met with Patrick regarding pandemic preparedness but plans to in the "near future." "The problem hasn't gone away," Moore said. "We should be doing what we have to do ahead of time." Patrick has yet to name a Commissioner of Public Health to replace the outgoing Paul Cote. Based on his discussions with DPH officials, they are waiting to take up issues relating to pandemic preparedness until a new commissioner is named, Moore said. Koutoujian's co-chair on the public health committee, Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln), has filed legislation intended to empower local communities in need of supplies and resources. Her bill would direct communities to form regional networks with other communities, which Fargo says enable an easier flow of resources such as medication and equipment to hospitals in need. She said that currently, communication between local health care providers and the state was insufficient. "There is a disconnect between DPH and the local health directors," she said. A CDC report released Monday recommends that all public and private schools, colleges and universities shut down in the event of a pandemic flu. It also suggests that large public events be canceled and that offices harness "social distancing measures" to prevent close contact between potential carriers of the virus. |