Democracy Now!
How Trump Dismantled the U.S. Pandemic Response Infrastructure
“Trump’s decision to appoint Vice President Mike Pence to lead the task force on U.S. coronavirus response is the latest in an attempt to hastily piece back together the national pandemic response infrastructure that the president himself ordered dismantled in the earlier days of his presidency, according to global health expert Laurie Garrett. “Why did he do it? It certainly wasn’t about the money, because it was not a heavily funded program,” says Garrett. “It was certainly because it was Obama’s program.” Garrett says that under the Obama administration, a special office was created to coordinate and mobilize resources across multiple channels in the case of a pandemic outbreak in the U.S. “That was all eliminated. It is gone,” says Garrett. “
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