Senators Thom Tillis R-Cornelius, NC) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) recently introduced bipartisan legislation to accelerate the development of necessary medical countermeasures to combat future pandemics. Tillis says that the COVID-19 pandemic showed the devastating consequences of deadly infectious disease epidemics and the repercussions of not having the proper infrastructure to expedite the development of MCMs for infectious disease threats. Even though deadly infectious disease epidemics can dramatically affect the American public, military personnel, and our economic and national security, there is currently no sustained funding, program, or strategy dedicated to accelerating the development of medical countermeasures for previously identified infectious disease threats with the greatest pandemic potential, referred to as “Disease X.”
