President Biden’s reelection campaign has strongly criticized former President Trump for his recent statement announcing his intention to eliminate the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) if he is reelected.
The OPPR was established in 2022 to address the government’s shortcomings in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump dismissed the office as unnecessary and a waste of resources, calling it “a way of giving out pork” in a recent interview with Time magazine.
The Biden campaign swiftly responded, pointing out Trump’s own lackluster response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, which was marked by a lack of clear planning and leadership.
Biden and Trump (Credits: Mediaite)
“Pandemic preparedness isn’t abstract to the millions of Americans who lost a loved one because of Donald Trump’s failed response to COVID-19,” campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement.
“We know the impact of Trump’s inability to lead all too well: an economy in shambles, schools closed down, and far too many American lives needlessly lost. We cannot afford to go back.”
Munoz, who previously served as a White House spokesperson on COVID-19, highlighted the importance of the OPPR in preparing for and responding to pandemics. The office has already played a crucial role in responding to a recent bird flu outbreak among American livestock.
Biden and Trump (Credits: CTV News)
It is worth noting that Trump’s administration has a history of dismantling pandemic preparedness initiatives. In 2018, his administration disbanded the National Security Council’s Global Health Security and Biodefense unit, which was established in 2015 after the Ebola outbreak to create response plans and logistics preparations for domestic health outbreaks.
The elimination of this unit left the country vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the OPPR was established to fill the gap left by Trump’s actions.
