President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra travel to Los Angeles today to participate in the Summit of the Americas, where they are expected to outline a plan to increase public health communication and surveillance in the Americas.
The plan is part of an administration bid to step up global partnerships in order to stem further COVID-19 outbreaks and prevent future pandemics before they start, and will help other countries in the Americas prevent and prepare for public health emergencies. The administration anticipates the plan will be fully implemented by 2030.
The primary goal is to train an additional 500,000 health care workers across Latin America within the next decade in conjunction with the newly-formed Americas Health Corps. This would cost roughly $100 million, a senior administration official said. The training would be conducted by leveraging existing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Peace Corps and Pan American Health Organization training platforms.
