Washington D.C. – The Ebola outbreak in Central and East Africa that has exposed Americans continues to spread rapidly and is at risk of becoming ‘deadliest on record.’ Yet the Trump administration is entirely focused on shifting the blame from themselves than working with the global health community to stop the spread.
CNN reports: “Key officials responsible for leading US research on infectious disease threats have been barred from speaking directly with the World Health Organization — effectively shutting some of them out of the global discussions on virus outbreaks.”
The administration’s refusal to cooperate and coordinate with global health experts follows a series of deeply short-sighted decisions that have now left them ill-prepared to deal with this global health threat and keep the rest of us safe. Decisions including: letting U.S. Ebola spending plummet 99% since the last outbreak. Ousting 80% of top officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Leaving the CDC without a permanent director for nearly 9 months and counting. And shuttering USAID and cutting themselves off from W.H.O. – decimating our disease surveillance and response capability just so billionaires could have another tax break. Yet, master buck-passer Secretary of State Marco Rubio now audaciously blames W.H.O. for the severely delayed detection of the outbreak.
“The Trump administration made several self-defeating moves that let this Ebola outbreak go unnoticed for weeks and devolve into a global health threat. The least thought-out, most reckless option is always option number one for Donald Trump,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “Now that those decisions are coming back to haunt them and putting American lives at risk, the administration would rather further hamstring response efforts than start working together with other nations to turn the tide on this extremely deadly outbreak. More political grandstanding against W.H.O. during this crisis isn’t a policy, it’s malpractice against our public health.”
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