That’s not true. GWB took it very seriously and put a plan in place. Obama modernized the plan. Trump is the one who ignored his predecessors and set the stage for the mess we are in.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/how-whi...
This isn’t unique to the US. Canada had an extremely effective pandemic forecasting agency. This got dismantled by two separate governments since 2014. I can’t find the article but the globe and mail had a big exposé.
The Atlantic article above is one of the top five articles I’ve read on the pandemic disaster and is worth reading.
* https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/23/16974012/tr...
* https://khn.org/morning-breakout/global-health-security-team... * https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/05/white-hou...
Pandemic preparedness was merged with WMD control. The below article refers to it as streamlining but notes
>The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.
https://www.kff.org/news-summary/elimination-of-nsc-global-h...