Opinion: HHS' national health security division must be preserved

Change has come to the Department of Health and Human Services. With the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary, major shifts in organizational structure, staffing, and policy priorities across the department are already underway. But not all HHS agencies are created equal, and some deserve to be modified with a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is a small but mighty component of HHS that is responsible for leading the medical and public health preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters and emergencies. Unfortunately, last week ASPR had to lay off many staff members as part of the widely reported cuts across HHS. But we hope that, as with the staff monitoring H5N1 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to rehire, the government will rethink this decision.

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