Biden Hazmats
© UnknownUS President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden has created a permanent office for pandemic response. Called the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, the new office within the executive branch replaces the Covid-19 response team that Biden ushered in during his first days in the White House.

This new office will ensure that the Biden administration can continue to implement so-called pandemic mitigation strategies for any new communicable disease that comes down the pike.

The White House offers in a briefing:
"This will be a permanent office in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) charged with leading, coordinating, and implementing actions related to preparedness for, and response to, known and unknown biological threats or pathogens that could lead to a pandemic or to significant public health-related disruptions in the United States."
This office replaces those set up for both Covid and the oddly named Mpox, so called because its original name, Monkey Pox, was deemed to be racist by Democrats who believe that in some way "monkey" is racist against black people.

The new team, led by retired Major General Paul Friedrichs, will "continue to coordinate and develop policies and priorities related to pandemic preparedness and response."

This office will be primarily responsible to the executive branch:
"It will drive and coordinate federal science and technology efforts related to pandemic preparedness overseeing efforts to develop, manufacture, and procure the next generation of medical countermeasures, including leveraging emerging technologies and working with HHS on next generation vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 and other public health threats."
The administration also took the opportunity to tout its efforts during the Covid pandemic, which began when a virus created through gain-of-function research leaked from a Wuhan, China lab that was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

It was also during the Biden administration's pandemic response that Americans were encouraged to not leave their homes, to shut down churches and schools while leaving casinos, liquor stores, and Walmarts open, and to mandate the wearing of face coverings that later studies revealed were steeped with bacteria. Under Biden's watch, newly-created vaccines were mandated both for federal employees and the employees of companies that contracted with the federal government.

This is the kind of pandemic response the new Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy will be ready to implement as soon as the next potential pandemic comes along.