Mary T. Bassett is a physician and member of the faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She previously served as New York State and New
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Justin Feldman and Mary Bassett describe how diminished political will to use government powers for service provision hampered the US response to the covid-19 pandemic and what needs to change
The US response to the covid-19 pandemic failed in its central task of protecting life. When the government’s public health emergency declaration ended on 11 May 2023, more than 1.1 million people in the US had died, the covid-19 death rate was higher than in comparable wealthy nations,1 and gaping racial and ethnic inequalities in mortality remained.2 In public health circles, chronic underfunding of public health agencies is often used to explain the shortcomings of the US covid-19 pandemic response.3 If only health departments had larger budgets, these arguments go, government could have expanded efforts to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission, promote vaccination, and deliver early treatment to medically vulnerable people.
The budgetary concerns are warranted. Only 1% of the country’s total