From Entomological Society of America Science Policy News
April 11, 2022
The Vector-Borne Disease Network (VBDN), a stakeholder group of nonprofit organizations including membership and trade associations, vector control groups, and educational institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Regional Centers of Excellence [Note: the PacVec Center is directed by faculty at UC Davis and Riverside], convened online as a group for the first quarterly meeting of the year on March 21. The VBDN invited Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee majority and minority staff as special guests to speak to the group about S.3799, the “Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics Act” (PREVENT Pandemics Act), and ways the VBDN can help support their efforts.
While the bill is very broad in terms of public health priorities, specific to the interests of the VBDN are provisions that support biosurveillance, genome sequencing, a new epidemic forecasting center, loan forgiveness for public health professionals including vector management professionals (a program that has been authorized but unfunded previously), a new advisory committee to help improve communications during a public health emergency, a One Health Framework, and other ways to incentivize new talent in public health.