America’s Blood Centers (ABC), the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), and the American Red Cross provided joint comments to a congressional request for information (RFI) from the Senate regarding reauthorization of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA). The blood community identified its top three priorities in the comments as:
- “Congress should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) considers the availability of a safe, adequate blood supply as an essential part of its programs, policies, and procedures and require ASPR to work with federal, state, and local agencies to ensure the continuity of blood collection establishments’ operations during disasters and public health emergencies;
- explicitly recognize and dedicate resources to support the screening, testing, and surveillance activities conducted by blood collection establishments, which possess unique, well-established expertise that is critical to the nation’s public health infrastructure; and
- require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to convene stakeholders, including hospitals, blood collection establishments, manufacturers, and suppliers that are part of the nation’s blood supply, to develop recommendations on how to strengthen the resiliency of the blood supply chain.”
Additionally, the blood community encouraged Congress “to ensure that the National Health Security Strategy provides resources and support for: a regular blood donor population to ensure the continuous availability of a stable blood supply; ensuring the diversity of the blood donor population; a sufficient laboratory workforce, which is needed to collect, process, distribute, and transfuse blood; and integration of considerations of the blood supply and the related supply chain into preparedness and response policies and practices.”
The comments to the Senate RFI for PAHPA reauthorization also requested that Congress “provide HHS with the explicit authority to fund activities that support access to pre-hospital blood transfusions.” The comments further suggested that Congress “should not only require HHS to convene stakeholders, including hospitals, blood collection establishments, manufacturers, and suppliers that are part of the nation’s blood supply, but also develop recommendations on how to strengthen the resiliency of the blood supply chain.” ABC, AABB, and the American Red Cross also provided suggestions to Congress to address workforce shortages and implement recommendations from the HHS Report to Congress: Adequacy of the National Blood Supply (2020).