An Article Out Loud from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, October 26, 2022.
Given 20 years of pandemic planning, is it not surprising when people ask, “Why were we not ready?” This question should be explored whether the time has come to put the country on a warlike footing for pandemic response with a coherent, institutionalized, and tested pandemic policy.
Narrated by MacGregor Stephenson.
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Thomas Russo
Tom Russo, MA, CEM, is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College in the emergency management program and teaches homeland security courses, including the epidemics and bioterrorism course. His background includes 18 years in public health, the last 12 serving as the emergency manager for the coastal region of South Carolina. He holds the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) credential from the International Association of Emergency Managers and graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security with a master’s degree in homeland security studies. In addition, he has written on pandemic preparedness, policy, and logistics, including a master’s thesis, “Strategic Policy for Pandemic Vaccine Distribution,” that provides the contextual background to convey the complexities of emergency mass vaccination in the twenty-first century.
