[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 30782-30783]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               AVIAN FLU

  Mr. FRIST. In the 20th century, three influenza pandemics. The worst 
of the three, the 1918 Spanish flu, killed over half-a-million 
Americans and more than 40 million worldwide.
  Secretary Leavitt warns that if past is prologue, the world is 
overdue for another flu pandemic.
  The avian flu spreading from East Asia to Romania and Turkey looks 
and acts more like the virus of 1918 than of any of its more moderate 
cousins.
  If it achieves the final step of human-to-human transmission, the 
consequences could be catastrophic both in loss of human life and 
economic meltdown.
  Recently, the Congressional Budget Office released a study which I 
had specifically requested on the economic impact of a flu pandemic. 
The CBO predicts that the American economy could suffer a $675 billion 
setback, a 5-percent loss in GDP, in the year a pandemic might hit.
  The clock is ticking, and we need to act now.
  We need to put the wheels in motion so that when and if the avian flu 
hits, America is prepared.

[[Page 30783]]

  If we don't, and an avian flu epidemic comes to our shores, we will 
rightly be blamed for failing to do our best to protect the American 
people. The finger will be pointing straight at the Congress.
  What we need in order to be prepared is a six-pronged approach.
  We need communication, surveillance, antivirals, vaccines, research, 
and stockpiling and surge capacity.
  This may sound like a lot of moving parts, but between our 
researchers, entrepreneurs, and public health experts, we have the 
intellect, the ingenuity, and the knowledge to get the job done.
  My duty as an elected official and as a doctor is to see this through 
to make sure that we are adequately prepared and we can look our 
constituents in the eye and tell them we have done everything we can to 
be prepared.
  Our economy, our country, and our lives are depending on it.
  The President has laid out a comprehensive plan. It is our job, now, 
to set aside sufficient resources to tackle this looming threat.
  I urge my colleagues to set aside their partisan differences and pull 
together to protect the American people.
  The flu virus won't know who is Republican and who is Democrat, but 
the people who suffer will know who didn't get the job done.
  We don't need to panic, but we do need to be prepared.
  We need to act, and that is what we intend to do.

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