ZikaHow Congress is failing on Zika
Three times Congress has taken up legislation to fund the continuing response to the Zika outbreak. Three times the bill, which would allocate $1.1 billion to fight the disease, has fallen short of attracting bipartisan support. While Congress delays action on Zika, the number of infected people keeps climbing. As of mid-September, there were over 3,000 reported cases in the fifty states and close to 18,000 when you count in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. One thing the Zika crisis has made clear is that solving emerging disease outbreaks increasingly involves navigating treacherous political waters. Congress’ lack of understanding of the real scope of voucher program – which aims to spur development of new drugs for neglected diseases — compromises efforts to find new ways of encouraging R&D in neglected diseases like Zika. Its inaction when it comes to extending funding for a major outbreak may endanger the health of thousands of Americans.
Three times Congress has taken up legislation to fund the continuing response to the Zika outbreak.
Three times the bill, which would allocate $1.1 billion to fight the disease, has fallen short of attracting bipartisan support.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention close to exhausting available funds for Zika preparedness and response, Congress’ failure is fueling concerns about how Zika will impact the health of U.S. citizens.
In my work for the Jaharis Health Law Institute at DePaul University College of Law, I have been monitoring and evaluating the U.S. response to the Zika outbreak. I see problems with both Congress’ long-term and short-term response.
A failure to fund
In addition to providing additional funding to fight the outbreak, the proposed Zika bill also covered funding for the Pentagon and veterans’ programs. Senate Democrats blocked it because of Republican-endorsed restrictions on use of Zika funding by Planned Parenthood, as well as provisions that would loosen criteria for use of certain pesticides.
As money evaporates, three-quarters of Americans support measures to increase funding to deal with the current outbreaks in Florida and Puerto Rico.
While Congress delays action on Zika, the number of infected people keeps climbing. As of mid-September, there were over 3,000 reported cases in the fifty states and close to 18,000 when you count in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The estimated range of the mosquitoes carrying Zika within the United States covers nearly half of the country. While the number of overall cases is unlikely to go as high as in other countries like Brazil or Guatemala, recent studies suggest that the virus will continue to propagate even through winter.
As the fiscal year nears its end on 30 September, the next Zika showdown will now be linked to the debate about the 2017 federal budget.
This means that the overarching U.S. response to Zika may not be based on the best approach to stop the spread of the disease, but on compromise on other issues like reallocation of leftover Ebola money, politics around Planned Parenthood and, now, size of the federal funding package.
Encouraging the development of Zika drugs
Congress has been quicker to act when it comes to funding Zika drug research, but the effectiveness of that action is anything but clear.
