AMA president calls for national COVID-19 recovery strategy

American Medical Association President Dr. Susan Bailey called for President-elect Joe Biden to roll out a national strategy to help the U.S. recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, during a National Press Club Headliners Virtual Newsmaker interview on Jan. 12.

Bailey said the federal government should take a leading role in COVID-19 vaccine distribution by giving state and local governments the resources and support they need to make sure people receive the doses. Bailey added that the new administration should also have a more robust strategy for testing for infection and make use of the Defense Production Act to speed up manufacturing of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies needed in the effort to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease or to safely provide health care to those infected.

“Leaving state and local officials to shoulder this burden alone without adequate support from the federal government is not going to work,” Bailey said. “Fifty different strategies across 50 states will continue to sow confusion and slow the process. The urgency of this moment demands a comprehensive and coordinated federal response.”

More than 370,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S., with positive cases reaching upwards of 22 million in recent days. Two vaccines have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and are being rolled out nationwide, but progress has been slow and left to each state government to decide how their allocations will be distributed.

“The distribution mechanisms at state and local levels have been slow, inconsistent, and severely hampered by unrealistic expectations and a lack of coordination at the federal level,” she said. “This inaction at the highest level of our government has placed yet another daunting burden on the shoulders of state and local officials who lack the resources, sufficient guidance, and the support to handle a health emergency of this magnitude on their own.”

Bailey also called on national leaders to reboot the country’s “gutted” public health infrastructure to prevent a future catastrophe. She said there must be a restoration of trust in science; greater access to “affordable and meaningful” health care coverage; more work to reduce inequities in services, especially for communities of color; revitalization of public health agencies; and engagement with internationally focused organizations like the World Health Organization.

After decades of the health care sector being starved of money and support, Bailey said, the effects are real and the situation must change. “We’re seeing the impact of this disinvestment play out today with the slow rollout of the vaccine,” she said.

And while Bailey said it may take until this fall for normal life to start a slow return, everyone must keep listening to scientists and keep up good public health behaviors like social distancing, wearing a mask and frequently washing hands. As the vaccine rollout continues, Bailey said, everyone must be patient.

“COVID fatigue is real. We’re all tired of it,” she said. “We all want to go back to the way things were… . But we’re just not there yet.”