Celebrate Lab Professionals by Strengthening Laboratories
For more than a year, researchers, scientists and staff from public health and private sector laboratories have spent their days and nights fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic.
From the unprecedented demand for diagnostic testing, to ongoing SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts to identify and track emerging variants, the sustained response to this public health emergency from members of the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the American Clinical Laboratory Association has remained a critical aspect of our defense against COVID-19. Even as more people get vaccinated, access to accurate and reliable testing remains critical to give public health officials the tools they need to contain the virus.
Our progress over the past year has been made despite significant challenges for the laboratory community writ-large, including continuously inadequate funding to the nation’s public health system. As we celebrate Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, we have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for their work but also a sense of urgency to adequately support all laboratory professionals during and outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date, Congress and the Biden Administration have designated funding for increased lab capacity and support services to get us through the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes establishing a federal fund for covering testing for the uninsured, removing cost-barriers for patients seeking testing and closing insurance coverage gaps that contributed to many individuals foregoing testing altogether. The American Rescue Plan provided another critical infusion of resources to public health laboratories for workforce development, data modernization and more in addition to funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to bolster our response to the pandemic.
As we have learned over the last year, responding to a pandemic requires the full force of the laboratory community. Whether facing a global pandemic or a local foodborne illness outbreak, our nation’s frontline laboratory staff need a long-term funding solution to get ahead of every possible health threat. All labs need essential supplies, modern infrastructure, highly trained staff, modern data reporting systems and so much more. We cannot wait for the next pandemic. The best and most important action we can take is to dedicate the necessary resources to support a robust laboratory response from public health and private sector labs that can provide care to every community when it is most needed.
That’s why it is imperative that Congress and the Biden Administration commit to a clear, long-term action plan for modernizing our nation’s public health infrastructure. This starts by investing in a strong, diverse laboratory workforce and preventing year-over-year cuts to lab tests and services that can undermine our response. It also requires Congress to support increased funding for the CDC in order for the agency to address the increasingly complex and global health threats facing the country. Further, we call on the CDC to develop a high-level activity and senior-level position that systematically supports communication and coordination between all of the laboratories in the country including public health, clinical, academic and others. While engagement between various types of laboratories and related partners currently exists, it is not occurring in a systematic fashion which limits efficiency and effectiveness. We have seen firsthand the importance of interconnectedness in protecting the public’s health from any existing or emerging threats.
As we take a moment to give extra attention to everything our members have done to fight COVID-19, we also recognize how much more needs to be done to support them. It is time to strengthen our laboratory systems and give our laboratory heroes the support they deserve.
Scott J. Becker is the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories & Julie Khani is President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association.
