Laurie Garrett Quotes

The Ebola epidemic was the most frightening outbreak I have witnessed in my lifetime, and I believe it was necessary to react globally as strongly as we did.

Pandemic influenza is by nature an international issue; it requires an international solution.

After all it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic.

While Ebola's deadly reach has proven to be a complex and unique international challenge, the many uncertainties surrounding this virus continue to threaten U.S. national security.

Pandemics happen. When they do, they change the world.

Strong leadership is essential in the face of health crises. Complex public health emergencies demand a collective response with high-level political and diplomatic engagement at both the national and global levels.

History will not judge HIV/AIDS kindly... the harshest words will be reserved for how the world responded, or rather failed to respond, to the epidemic.

We've all learned about this disease since it was first discovered several years ago in Europe. And so I think we've learned from the European experience.

This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions now should be undertaken with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace.

Without an adequate response, an epidemic can develop into a pandemic, which generally means it has spread to more than one continent.

To be able to detect the outbreak of avian flu anywhere in the world is going to require a partnership of several countries that will share information and samples, but it is important to remember a threat anywhere is a threat everywhere.

The idea of infection began to be taken far more seriously than it ever had before. Hospitals transformed themselves in response to the new plague - sometimes for the better, but often for the worse, as when, in fear, they cast their ulcerated patients out into the streets.

Ninety percent of the cases of polio are in security-vulnerable areas.

This is a historic moment in global public health, demonstrating the international will to tackle a threat to health head on.

A more effective international disease surveillance system is essential for global security both against a bioterrorist attack or a naturally occurring disease.

My fear is that if we don't take remedial steps to control polio in the tribal areas, we will be faced with international sanctions.

I believe we have to nip Ebola in the bud before it spreads through Africa and to other countries.

This syndrome, SARS, is now a worldwide health threat... The world needs to work together to find its cause, cure the sick and stop its spread.

The reality is: By the time swine flu got on the radar screen of global public health, it had already spread. It was already in the States, it was in Mexico, it was in New Zealand. By the time it reaches that point, you've lost the ability to contain it.

Mr. Speaker, it is matter of common knowledge that an epidemic of alarming proportions is prevailing throughout the country. Out of an abundant precaution the Senate has ordered the galleries closed, which action, I understand, meets with the approval of the medical authorities, and so I ask unanimous consent that the Speaker be instructed to close the galleries of this House until further action shall be taken by the House.

History has told us that no one can stop a pandemic. The question is: when is it going to happen? I don't think anybody has the answer to it. We have to be on the lookout for any time, any day.

There is a cost for investing in pandemic preparedness, but a much bigger cost for not investing in it.

The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States has caused some to call on the United States to ban travel for anyone from the countries in West Africa facing the worst of the Ebola epidemic. That response is understandable. It's only human to want to protect ourselves and our families.

The Ebola virus is unlike any health crisis we have ever experienced and needs a response unlike anything we have ever seen.

Access to humanitarian assistance and information are all the more important during the Covid-19 pandemic.