Preparing for a Biden presidency in which COVID-19 will be a top priority, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition team named a board of scientists and public health experts Nov. 9 to advise the team on how to respond to the surging pandemic in the U.S.

October brought another burgeoning swell of pandemic news with the U.S. granting its first FDA approval for a COVID-19 therapy, a promising vaccine candidate reaching full enrollment in phase III, and the stoppage of several trials due to safety signals.

If a new federal rule withstands politics and potential court challenges, U.S. health care prices may finally be freed from their historic black box. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, along with the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, issued the Transparency in Coverage final rule Oct. 29 requiring most private health plans to disclose pricing and cost-sharing information so Americans will know in advance how much they will have to pay for prescription drugs, medical devices and other health care products and services.

HONG KONG – Even with vaccine administration just around the corner, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has warned his ministers to not rush the launch of COVID-19 vaccines over mounting public concerns about whether those vaccines would be certified halal, or permissible under Islamic law.

LONDON – Three large scale population surveys conducted between late June and the end of September have shown the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in England declined by 26.5% over three months. The findings rest on the results of more than 350,000 self-administered lateral flow blood tests that were carried out at home by volunteers who were randomly selected from general practitioner registers.

With the lack of public trust and confidence the biggest barrier to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in the U.S., the risk of granting an emergency use authorization to a vaccine with safety issues or questionable efficacy could destroy confidence in future FDA-approved products. That message was drummed home throughout the Oct. 22 meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

While the FDA’s approach to evaluating safety and efficacy in the development and review of COVID-19 vaccines for the U.S. market will be at the center of its Oct. 22 advisory committee meeting, the panel also will be asked to discuss the practicalities, and ethics, of continuing to conduct trials once a candidate has been granted an emergency use authorization.