Report: Congress must take immediate action to defend US against biological threats

A group of researchers and former lawmakers urged Congress to update the government's strategy against deadly outbreaks and biological attacks.

(KXAN) — A group of researchers and former lawmakers urged Congress to update the government's strategy against deadly outbreaks and biological attacks.

The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released its report, The National Blueprint for Biodefense, outlining 36 recommendations and 185 action items to defend against biological threats.

“We've got to be prepared, no matter who's the president, no matter who the administration is, or the Congress,” former congressman Fred Upton said. “We have to be prepared, ready for the next case.”

Dr. Raj Panjabi, also on the commission, explained how the recommendations are especially important with the recent cases of bird flu in Texas.

“It's infecting farm animals which then could mean that it could spill over into humans if we don't take the right precaution,” Panjabi said. “If it were to happen and spread from human to human, that could be the beginning of the next pandemic influenza outbreak. We worry about that in particular.”

The report also addresses a plan to reduce the spread of infectious diseases that linger in the air like COVID-19.

“We are calling for a new research and development plan to keep buildings, our schools or offices or airports, safe by disinfecting the air by cleaning it from the inside out,” Panjabi said. “We already take care of our buildings and try to make them resilient to fires, floods [and] earthquakes. Why couldn't we do that with pandemics? We believe we could.”

Upton plans to be on Capitol Hill to encourage lawmakers to make the report a priority.

“So hopefully we get some hearings scheduled in the near future. But this needs to be a priority because it's going to happen again. We need to be prepared for it and take those preventative steps. This report details quite a few of them,” Upton said.