A day after a U.S. House committee, on a party-line vote, advanced two bills to reauthorize emergency preparedness programs, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 17-3 July 20 to send its bipartisan reauthorization of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation.
The tension of clashing politics, policies and prescription drug pricing is coming to a head as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) acts on his threat to hold presidential appointments in the health arena hostage until President Joe Biden commits to do more to bring down drug prices.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services received low marks on its latest Government Accountability Office (GAO) report card for its oversight of high-risk research involving potential pandemic pathogens, but legislative fixes might be necessary to ensure that all the gaps are closed.
The European Commission is spending €242 million (US$261 million) to create the first rescEU strategic reserve of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures.
The European Commission is spending €242 million (US$261 million) to create the first rescEU strategic reserve of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures.
The White House laid out several timelines Oct. 18 as part of a national biodefense strategy for countering biological threats and enhancing global pandemic preparedness.
The European Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently signed an arrangement to strengthen their cooperation on preparedness and response to public health threats.
The bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, which seeks to put into U.S. law many of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, marked its first milestone March 15, with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee sending it to the full Senate with a do-pass recommendation on a 20-2 vote.
The European Council reached an agreement Dec. 20 that will allow the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority to respond much more quickly to public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic by activating urgent and targeted medical countermeasures (MCMs) across the EU.
The European Commission opened a public consultation to help it develop the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, a new initiative to better prepare Europe for cross-border health threats.