805: Lame Duck Priority Preview, National Influenza Vaccination Week

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, December 6, 2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Congress finally returns to wrap up the year, and that means Jeffrey Ekoma is here to discuss what's happening on the Hill for this week's View from Washington D.C.  report.

Jeffrey, it's great to see you. Happy Friday to you.

JEFFREY EKOMA: 

Happy Friday. Good to be back.

JOHNSON: 

This is the first View from Washington since the election. Obviously, there are some big changes coming to D.C. What are the things that you and your team are tracking for ASTHO members?

EKOMA: 

Yes. So, the November elections have concluded. A couple of changes to note. One, President Trump was able to secure victory, and he will be returning to the White House to serve a second term. His inauguration will be January 20 of next year. Republicans will be in the majority in the U.S. Senate and Republicans in the House were able to retain their majority as well. It's important to note that the majorities in both the Senate and the House are still slim. Now, Senate Republicans also chose Senator John Thune to be the next Majority Leader, while Senator Chuck Schumer will serve as the Minority Leader. We expect the House to select a speaker shortly, and it's expected that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries will serve as the House Democratic Leader for the next session of Congress. We're also closely tracking nominations for the incoming administration. So far, the following individuals have been nominated for positions that are closely related to public health: starting with Mr. Robert F. Kennedy, who's been chosen to be the next secretary for Health and Human Services; Dr. Dave Weldon as the next CDC director; Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as the U.S. surgeon general; Dr. Martin Makary as the FDA commissioner; Dr. Mehmet Oz as the next CMS administrator, Mr. Jim O'Neill as HHS deputy secretary, and Mr. Russell Vought as the OMB director. These, and many things, are things that we'll be tracking in the next couple of weeks to months.

JOHNSON: 

What's in store for the ASTHO team in the lame duck session between now and January 20?

EKOMA: 

Yeah, we have been talking really closely with staff on the Hill. We've been having lots of conversations with other partners, and stakeholders of ASTHO, and our affiliates to really understand what the priorities are. And quite frankly, you know, there's been not a lot of details coming from the Hill on what's going to happen with lame duck. I think a large part of where the Hill is right now is they're trying to figure out how to extend funding past December 20. What we do anticipate is that there will be lots of bills that may or may not get attached to that spending bill, so it's something that we just continue to track, and we'll definitely highlight all the things that are going to happen in lame duck in our Legislative Alert that will come out in the next week or so.

JOHNSON: 

We should also talk about the expiration of government funding. What has ASTHO been keeping an eye on there?

EKOMA: 

Yeah, absolutely. As a reminder, no current government funding will expire on December 20, and this week has brought forth the most activity on the issue in the last couple of months. Although several options are on the table for Congress to consider, The likely scenario involves the passage of a short-term spending patch or continuing resolution that may include disaster aid to support communities impacted by previous hurricanes, among other things. The length of another resolution, however, is unclear, but it does seem that sometime in March 2025 may be the likely date. There are also some lingering concerns about a resolution that would extend into April of next year, which would trigger across-the-board-cuts stipulated under the Fiscal Responsibility Act or the Debt Limit Agreement that was signed into law the summer of last year. Although not completely off the table, the threat of a government shutdown is still a possibility, considering how fluid the situation is at the moment. We'll certainly update our members on any developments as we'll be publishing a Legislative Alert when things get finalized in the next week or so.

JOHNSON: 

We always appreciate having you. Jeffrey,. Thank you so much.

EKOMA: 

Thank you so much. Great to be back.

JOHNSON: 

You can stay up-to-date on the end of this congressional session, and of course, the new developments that are sure to happen next year in D.C. when you sign up for ASTHO's Legislative Alerts. The Government Affairs team will alert you on those issues that affect public health as they are discussed in Congress and in the states. The link to sign up is in the show notes.

JOHNSON: 

Today marks the end of National Influenza Vaccination Week, a campaign focused on the importance of the influenza vaccine. We spoke with the CDC's Dr. Brendan Jackson about the respiratory virus season.

BRENDAN JACKSON: 

Given that it's early December, we're actually in a pretty good place. At the moment, the amount of overall respiratory disease activity is still relatively low, although it's ticking up in some states, especially in the south and the east right now.

JOHNSON: 

While COVID, influenza, and RSV are the illnesses that make the news headlines, Jackson says others are also important to watch.

JACKSON: 

Rhinovirus and enterovirus are big still right now and then mycoplasma, I know a lot of people have had personal experiences with that recently. There's- there's just been a lot of it, including in young children, which is somewhat atypical, even infants this year.

JOHNSON: 

Jackson also has an update on this year's COVID vaccinations.

JACKSON: 

We're actually pleasantly surprised to see that vaccination uptake rates are higher this year for COVID than they were last year, especially among people who are 65 and older. So, we're hoping that people kind of become more accustomed to this, it's, you know, we're no longer in the emergency phase with COVID anymore. It's just part of something that we are dealing with now. It's just part of the routine fall and winter stuff that we do each year.

JOHNSON: 

You can head to the show notes to find more information about National Influenza Vaccination Week and respiratory season.

Finally, ASTHO has compiled a number of evidence-based technical packages for your use. Check out ASTHO's Evidence-Based Public Health web page. Resources there can help you work more effectively through public health challenges. We have a link in the show notes.

That'll do it for today. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.