Ending the US’s COVID-19 state of emergency has far-reaching effects and may leave Americans vulnerable to the next pandemic. Reducing spending on COVID-19 now could mean fewer tests, reduced access to vaccines and a weakened understanding of how COVID-19 is behaving. Health policy expert Dr. Zeke Emmanuel of the University of Pennsylvania joins the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about why ending the response too soon is so shortsighted and may have impacts on securing much-needed reforms to health care and insurance, protecting people from future variants, studying the effects of long COVID, and preparing for the next pandemic.