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Tuesday, June 11, 2024

National Institutes of Health boss, at UK, says U.S. is better set for next pandemic but needs more 'really snappy real-time data'

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli spoke at UK. (WUKY photo by Josh James)
Kentucky Health News

The new director of the National Institutes of Health said at the University of Kentucky on June 10 that the U.S. hasn’t fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, and long Covid remains a problem, but the nation is readier for the next pandemic than it was for the last one.

"We're better prepared, but we're not at all complacent about how awful pandemics are and the great suffering that comes from this, and the need to be constantly ready to spring into action," Dr. Monica Bertagnolli told Josh James of WUKY.

"We really hadn't before had a good, real-time feedback link with really snappy real-time data," she said, noting that she is starting a new reporting network for doctors to share such information.

"That data – both its reliability and collection – was one of the themes of Bertagnolli’s talk at UK," James reports. "She said the pandemic showed medical officials the necessity of creating a more responsive data ecosystem running all of the time, not just during major health emergencies."

Asked about efforts to combat distrust toward medical authorities, Bertagnolli said part of the solution is delivering tangible results for patients. She pointed to recent polling from the Pew Research Center about who people trust the most when it comes to medical information.

"The very highest trust was with their primary-care providers," she said, "which is why we're launching this new primary-care research network, because we want to put the research into the hands of people who are trusted, so that everybody can have the benefit."

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