Is the US prepared to deal with another pandemic or widespread health crisis?
This is a widely debated question among public health experts, and the consensus leans toward significant concern rather than confidence. Here's what the evidence shows:
Expert Consensus: Not Well Prepared
Many health security experts argue the U.S. is currently less prepared than it was even during COVID-19, let alone adequately prepared for a new crisis. Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm believes that the response to the COVID pandemic hasn't been properly examined and that the Trump administration, which includes strong anti-vaccine voices, has made the United States less prepared for a future pandemic.
Rutgers School of Public Health Dean Perry Halkitis described the core problem bluntly: "We have a public health infrastructure that is extremely weak, that has been torn apart," while noting that the first crisis is structural—a public health infrastructure that has been systematically defunded and hollowed out, and the second is relational—a field that has sometimes forgotten how human beings actually work.
Key Warning Signs
Leadership gaps: The federal office specifically created to coordinate pandemic response has been gutted. In 2025, Gerald Parker resigned as head of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, leaving the office with no employees.
State-level readiness is uneven: The 2026 "Ready or Not" report found that states and the District of Columbia fall into three performance tiers: 20 states in the high-performance tier, 17 states and the District of Columbia in the middle-performance tier, and 13 states in the low-performance tier. The same report highlighted that 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.
Funding and workforce cuts: The report specifically examines how federal workforce reductions and funding instability could weaken preparedness nationwide. Broader reporting confirms this trend, noting the United States has weakened its public health infrastructure even as the likelihood of a new pandemic is high.
Vaccine R&D setbacks: A backlash against public health measures has had real consequences — a backlash emerged to public health measures that helped elevate anti-vaccine activists and hostility toward vaccines, including the mRNA vaccine platform that helped end the COVID emergency.
Active threats already testing the system: H5N1 avian influenza remains a live concern. As one Johns Hopkins expert noted, seventy humans have tested positive, including veterinarians and others with no known contact with infected cows or birds, "which suggests we're missing cases," while mammals are also contracting the disease, with H5N1 showing up in red foxes, racoons, bobcats, and even domestic cats, among other animals.
Some Genuine Progress
It's not entirely bleak. Experts point to real technological and scientific gains since COVID. Caitlin Rivers noted, "Technology really stands out as a realm where we've seen some great successes," particularly in diagnostics. Former Biden health official Ashish Jha also cautioned that preparedness gains are fragile: "We have a lot of the knowledge, tools and systems in place, but they can easily go away if they don't continue to get the funding and support they need," he warned — a warning that now looks prescient given subsequent cuts.
Global Context
The U.S. situation reflects a broader global pattern of eroding readiness. A January 2026 implementation report found that global readiness is becoming increasingly fragile at a time of growing biosecurity and geopolitical risk, and that the withdrawal of the United States from WHO introduces a structural discontinuity in surveillance and financing that no complementary arrangement yet remedies. Globally, investment trends are also moving the wrong direction: overall investment in pandemic countermeasure R&D continued to decline through FY2024, with the steepest impacts seen in therapeutics.
Bottom Line
The weight of expert opinion — spanning epidemiologists, public health deans, and institutional reports — suggests the U.S. is not currently well-prepared for another major pandemic. The combination of hollowed-out federal coordination, defunded state/local public health infrastructure, declining R&D investment, vaccine hesitancy/policy backlash, and withdrawal from international health cooperation mechanisms has left the system more vulnerable than it was even in early 2020, despite some genuine technological advances in diagnostics and surveillance tools developed since COVID-19.
Citations (16)
- The United States isn’t prepared for another pandemic. Here’s what should happen - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Source excerpt: “Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm believes that the response to the COVID pandemic hasn’t been properly examined and that the Trump administration, whi...”
attribution, article, points to no. Claim: Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm believes the Trump administration, including anti-vaccine voices, has made the US less prepared for a future pandemic.
- America Is Not Ready for the Next Pandemic — and a Leading Public Health Expert Explains Why
Source excerpt: ““We have a public health infrastructure that is extremely weak, that has been torn apart,” Halkitis said, adding that responsibility doesn’t rest enti...”
attribution, article, points to no. Claim: Rutgers dean Perry Halkitis said the public health infrastructure is extremely weak and has been torn apart.
- America Is Not Ready for the Next Pandemic — and a Leading Public Health Expert Explains Why
Source excerpt: “The first is structural: a public health infrastructure that has been systematically defunded and hollowed out. The second is relational: a field that...”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: The structural crisis is a public health infrastructure systematically defunded and hollowed out; the second is relational.
- White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy
Source excerpt: “[[6]](./White_House_Office_of_Pandemic_Preparedness_and_Response_Policy#cite_note-6) In 2025, Gerald Parker resigned as head of the office, leaving th...”
evidence, reference entry, points to no. Claim: Gerald Parker resigned in 2025 as head of the pandemic preparedness office, leaving it with no employees.
- Ready or Not 2026: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism - TFAH
Source excerpt: “The report also places states and the District of Columbia into three performance tiers: **20 states in the high-performance tier, 17 states and the D...”
statistic, official document, neutral. Claim: Ready or Not 2026 places states in tiers: 20 high, 17 plus DC middle, 13 low performance.
- Ready or Not 2026: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism - TFAH
Source excerpt: “In 2025, the country faced the most severe flu season in nearly a decade, rising measles outbreaks, continued H5N1 avian influenza activity, and a gro...”
evidence, official document, points to no. Claim: 2025 brought severe flu season, measles outbreaks, H5N1 activity and extreme weather while federal systems came under strain.
- Ready or Not 2026: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism - TFAH
Source excerpt: “**Special Feature: Preparedness at Risk** This year’s report includes a special feature examining how federal workforce reductions and funding inst...”
evidence, official document, points to no. Claim: The report examines how federal workforce reductions and funding instability could weaken preparedness nationwide.
- Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?
Source excerpt: “August 19, 2026 The United States has weakened its public health infrastructure even as the likelihood of a new pandemic is high. ”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: The US has weakened its public health infrastructure even as the likelihood of a new pandemic is high.
- The United States isn’t prepared for another pandemic. Here’s what should happen - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Source excerpt: “Although the COVID pandemic led to a better understanding of the coronaviruses, viruses, and vaccines, a backlash emerged to public health measures th...”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: A backlash to public health measures elevated anti-vaccine activists and hostility to vaccines including mRNA.
- Are we ready for the next one? - JHU Hub
Source excerpt: “### The next one Seventy humans have tested positive, including veterinarians and others with no known contact with infected cows or birds, "which sug...”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: Seventy humans tested positive for H5N1, including some with no known animal contact, suggesting missed cases.
- Are we ready for the next one? - JHU Hub
Source excerpt: “Mammals are also contracting the disease, with H5N1 showing up in red foxes, racoons, bobcats, and even domestic cats, among other animals. ”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: H5N1 is appearing in mammals such as foxes, raccoons, bobcats and domestic cats.
- 5 years since its first COVID-19 case, how prepared is the U.S. for the next pandemic? : NPR
Source excerpt: “CAITLIN RIVERS: Technology really stands out as a realm where we've seen some great successes. ”
attribution, article, points to yes. Claim: Caitlin Rivers said technology, particularly diagnostics, has seen great successes since COVID.
- Are we ready?
Source excerpt: ““We have a lot of the knowledge, tools and systems in place, but they can easily go away if they don’t continue to get the funding and support they ne...”
attribution, article, neutral. Claim: Ashish Jha said knowledge, tools and systems exist but can easily go away without continued funding.
- (DOC) International Pandemic Preparedness Protocols: A Critical Assessment for 2026 A Multi-Perspective Working Paper March 2026
Source excerpt: “Yet, as the Fifth Implementation Report of the 100 Days Mission observed in January 2026, global readiness is becoming increasingly fragile at a time ...”
evidence, other, points to no. Claim: The January 2026 100 Days Mission report found global readiness becoming increasingly fragile amid biosecurity and geopolitical risk.
- (DOC) International Pandemic Preparedness Protocols: A Critical Assessment for 2026 A Multi-Perspective Working Paper March 2026
Source excerpt: “We find that the Agreement's ambition substantially outpaces its implementation mechanisms; that the withdrawal of the United States from WHO introduc...”
evidence, other, points to no. Claim: US withdrawal from WHO introduces a structural discontinuity in surveillance and financing.
- Pandemic preparedness slipping just as global risks grow, new 100 Days Mission report warns
Source excerpt: “The **100DM Scorecard 3.0,** developed in collaboration with Impact Global Health**,** shows that overall investment in pandemic countermeasure R&D co...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: Overall investment in pandemic countermeasure R&D continued to decline through FY2024, steepest for therapeutics.