Is the US prepared to deal with another pandemic or widespread health crisis?

Is the US Prepared for the Next Pandemic? A Mixed and Concerning Picture

The evidence suggests the United States' pandemic preparedness has significantly weakened in recent years, even as some structural and scientific improvements remain in place. Here's the current picture:

Warning Signs and Vulnerabilities

Federal Health Infrastructure Cuts
The most alarming trend is substantial federal funding and staffing reductions. According to Trust for America's Health's 2025 report, emergency preparedness funding faces a proposed 52 percent cut, leaving states and localities more vulnerable to future outbreaks and pandemics, natural disasters, and other health emergencies. More broadly, the President's proposed FY 2026 budget for the CDC amounts to a 53 percent reduction in funding as compared to FY 2024.

The workforce has already been hit hard: CDC lost approximately one quarter of its civilian workforce between fiscal years 2024 and 2026, with reductions spanning global health, health promotion, scientific research, and communications. Similarly, the Health Resources and Services Administration...similarly lost approximately one quarter of its staff.

Emergency funds have also been clawed back. The March 2025 termination of more than $12 billion in COVID-19-era grants had broadened support for infectious disease monitoring, laboratory capacity, emergency preparedness, and mental health services.

Vaccine and Countermeasure Research Setbacks
A significant blow to future pandemic readiness came when the report also flags the cancellation of nearly $500 million in contracts funding mRNA vaccine research and development in August 2025, describing the move as a potential disruption to the research, development, and deployment of countermeasures needed for the next public health emergency.

Leadership Vacuum
The White House office specifically created to coordinate pandemic response has been gutted. In 2025, Gerald Parker resigned as head of the office, leaving the office with no employees.

Withdrawal from Global Health Coordination
The US has stepped back from international cooperation frameworks. In January 2025, President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the World Health Organization and halted its funding, with formal withdrawal completed in January 2026. Additionally, the administration said the U.S. would not be bound by the recently revised International Health Regulations or the new pandemic agreement being negotiated by WHO. This withdrawal has practical consequences: it formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization in January 2026, reducing access to global data sources that support outbreak tracking.

The dismantling of USAID has also hurt outbreak response capacity, as before its dissolution, USAID had about 50 staff supporting international outbreak response efforts, a number which dropped to six in the early weeks of the Trump administration.

Looking Ahead: Further Cuts Proposed
Future budgets could deepen these vulnerabilities. The proposed FY 2027 budget would eliminate the Hospital Preparedness Program entirely and cut the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement by approximately 52 percent.

State-Level Gaps
Beyond federal issues, basic infrastructure gaps persist at the state level. For instance, access to paid sick leave varies widely across U.S. regions—from 98 percent of workers in Pacific states to 67 percent in East South Central states—and gaps are most concentrated among low-wage, part-time, and service-sector workers, which matters because paid sick leave reduces disease transmission, supports business continuity, and is increasingly recognized by employers as an important part of preparedness infrastructure.

Some Countervailing Factors

Congressional Pushback
Not all proposed cuts have been enacted. Notably, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 maintained the CDC's program-level funding at approximately $9.1 billion—essentially flat with FY 2025—and rejected many of the administration's deepest proposed cuts, showing Congress has partially resisted the most severe reductions.

Continued International Bilateral Support
Despite the WHO withdrawal, Congress has continued to appropriate funding for bilateral global health security efforts at close to prior year levels, including $1.1 billion in FY 2026.

Ongoing Scientific Development
Some pandemic countermeasure research continues. HHS's multi-year plan notes ongoing work such as efforts to pursue advanced nanoparticle-based vaccine candidates for both pandemic and seasonal strains of influenza by evaluating in phase 1 clinical trials.

Nuanced Expert View
Not all experts view the situation as catastrophic. Georgetown's Rebecca Katz noted that "the reality is that it's a lot more nuanced than" doomsday framing suggests, pointing out that different parts of the world are investing resources to prepare for pandemics in various ways.

Bottom Line

The overall trajectory is concerning. As one biodefense budget analysis notes, projected funding gaps are substantial—an estimated $33.5 billion funding gap from the total projected need is expected if funding continues at proposed levels. Meanwhile, real-world stress tests are already occurring: in 2025, the country faced the most severe flu season in nearly a decade, rising measles outbreaks, continued H5N1 avian influenza activity, and a growing number of extreme weather events—all while the federal systems built over decades to help states prepare for and respond to emergencies came under significant strain.

While Congress has partially blocked the deepest proposed cuts and some bilateral international programs continue, the combination of workforce losses, canceled vaccine research contracts, WHO withdrawal, and a defunct pandemic-response office suggests the US is less prepared than it was in the years immediately following COVID-19, even as some baseline scientific and institutional capacity remains.