Editor, Gazette-Journal:

When Trump took office in 2017, one of the first things he did was dismantle the Pandemic Response Team. In 2020, the coronavirus hit and the U.S. was totally unprepared. Over one million Americans died. Fortunately, Trump fast-tracked the search for a vaccine and one was developed with amazing speed, saving millions of lives.

Fast forward to Trump’s second administration. One of Trump’s (or Musk’s) first acts was to dismantle USAID, an organization that among other functions helps reduce the spread of deadly infectious diseases. Without USAID, diseases that were once under control will resurge. Trump is simultaneously trying to drastically cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, an agency that played a crucial role in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine. Added to this, Trump has placed Kennedy, a vaccine denier, as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

A measles outbreak in Texas has led to the first death in the U.S. from measles in 10 years. Bird flu is spreading across the U.S. and there is an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. How will this administration be prepared when another deadly and infectious disease hits the U.S.?

Charlotte Hollings
Lancaster, Va.