Senators push for stronger federal biodefense workforce

Two senators introduced legislation last week to ensure that the nation has enough public health personnel to respond to an infectious disease outbreak or a bioterrorist attack.

The Public Health Preparedness Workforce Act, introduced by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill, last Wednesday, is designed to provide financial assistance for students who are pursuing health-related degrees and intend to enter a governmental public health agency.

"An important priority for the next decade is to ensure that our nation has an adequate number of competent professionals to provide essential public health services," Durbin said. "The public health scholarships and loan repayment program we are proposing … will help us ease the public health workforce shortages before we have a crisis on our hands." Public health and civil service advocacy groups were quick to praise the bill.

"All of us will be safer and healthier being protected by a highly qualified public health workforce, and all Americans are indebted to Senators Hagel and Durbin for their leadership in this initiative," said George Hardy, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. "We look forward to working with them and their colleagues in the Congress to assure passage of this critically needed legislation."

The Partnership for Public Service released a report last year saying that the federal government does not have enough biodefense specialists to be ready for potential terrorist attacks. The organization called on the federal government to recruit existing biodefense experts and offer scholarships or loan repayment assistance to attract top students in biodefense fields. Max Stier, Partnership president, said last week's bill is not a "silver bullet" to solve all federal biodefense staffing problems, but he praised the sponsors for addressing the issue.

"The bottom line is that the legislation . . . is terrific," Stier said. "In order to develop that pipeline of talent, we need to start from the beginning. We know we are not going to have sufficient public health personnel to deal with these issues."

The legislation calls for an annual appropriation of about $230 million.

"It's obviously a difficult climate . . . to pass legislation and certainly to fund legislation of any sort," Stier said. If lawmakers realize the critical shortage in biodefense personnel, he added, the bill could succeed. "We have a better chance now than we've ever had."

Public health experts agreed that the bill, if successful, could lay the groundwork for a new generation of federal biodefense specialists.

"We need to ensure that there are qualified people in the public health pipeline," said Richard Raymond, the incoming president of the health officials' organization. "Public health preparedness requires trained professionals who can gather, analyze, interpret and disseminate data. You can't create them overnight."