In a July 1 letter, almost 350 public health organizations urged U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to support the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Trust for America's Health, one of the letter's signatories.
The letter expresses concern about "reports of resistance to evidence-based public health messages and threats to public health leaders and agencies," and entreats the Secretary to be "an advocate for public health."
"Secretary Azar, we urge you to speak up and amplify the critical role of CDC and that of all public health agencies during this monumental crisis," the organizations wrote.
The letter also urges the Secretary to advocate for more funding for the CDC's core budget.
"CDC's core budget remains inadequate to meet the nation's public health needs," the group noted. "While emergency supplemental funding has been critical to begin to address the immediate COVID needs, robust, sustained, and predictable funding for its full public health mission is essential to sustain its core public health activities and work to prevent the next emergency."
