Countermeasures
The all-star team of government officials, scientists and industry executives who tackled COVID-19 made great strides in the development of an effective vaccine against the novel virus, but that is no guarantee that the United States will be ready for the next pandemic that rears its head, speakers... Read More »
The first participant in a new trial phase recently received a dose of a vaccine candidate against chikungunya disease that is being developed by Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
“Emergent has achieved a major milestone as we begin our phase 3 study for our single-dose chikungunya vaccine... Read More »
Shortly after the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001, letters containing deadly anthrax spores arrived at locations across the country, killing five Americans and sickening 17 others. Twenty years after these incidents, considered the worst biological attacks in U.S. history, the federal government... Read More »
The threat detection and security screening technology firm Smiths Detection recently confirmed its BioFlash air sampler detects a series of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Officials said the detected variants include the Alpha variant, Beta variant, Gamma variant, the Kappa variant and the Delta and Delta... Read More »
San Francisco based Voxel Radar has secured a $387,415 award from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a passenger self-screening hardware subsystem for airport checkpoints.
DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Screening at Speed Program officials indicated the allotment... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) has whittled down a list of more than 700 applicants to 26 proposed members to act as expert advisors on its new Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).
These experts will advise WHO as it develops a global framework for defining... Read More »
In a letter to high-ranking members of the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 response efforts, three Democratic senators and representatives this week urged a cautious review of the United States Health and Human Services (HHS) contract with Moderna, Inc. and called for efforts to expand global... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) co-chairs of the Congressional Valley Fever Task Force joined Reps. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Tom O’Halleran (R-AZ) to introduce a bipartisan bill combating Valley Fever Wednesday.
Valley Fever is an infection caused by inhaling spores... Read More »
Through exercise of an option with Moderna, Inc., Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance will purchase another 176.5 million doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to help low income countries over the course of the next year, through the COVAX Facility.
With this purchase, COVAX will have... Read More »
Two cybersecurity bills from U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) have been approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee where Peters serves as chair and Portman serves as ranking member.
The two bills, the Cyber Incident Reporting Act and the... Read More »
According to the latest annual report from the global nonprofit partnership CARB-X, at the close of its fifth fiscal year it has provided as much as $361 million to 92 projects seeking solutions to antibiotic resistant bacteria, gathered new partners under its umbrella and continually grown its... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security officials said the agency is initiating efforts to bolster enforcement of wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights and other employment laws and standards.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has issued directives to Immigration and... Read More »
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has earmarked $14 million to companies in accordance with efforts to ensure a small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) industrial base.
Officials indicated the allotment via the Defense Production Act would be awarded to Systems and... Read More »
Reckoning with rising cases of overdose throughout the United States, a bicameral reintroduction of the POWER Act was announced last week, which proposes new U.S. Department of Justice-provided grants to help law enforcement procure better drug detection devices.
POWER, or Providing Officers... Read More »
A group of United States senators last week reintroduced an effort to update the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 and extend legal protections for medical volunteers working in federally-recognized disaster relief efforts.
Authored by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and... Read More »
The Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act was recently signed into law.
The measure supports American public servants having sustained brain injuries likely stemming from directed energy attacks, also known as Havana Syndrome.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark... Read More »
A pair of lawmakers have introduced a measure that seeks to improve the nationʻs cybersecurity.
Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) recently introduced the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act,... Read More »
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded $999,644 to a California-based small business, Karagozian & Case, Inc., for development of an advanced software option that would allow security professionals to view their environments through a mobile device.
“As crowded places... Read More »
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has determined vaccinated persons with substance use disorders are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2.
“First and foremost, vaccination is highly effective for people with substance use disorders, and the overall risk of COVID-19 among vaccinated people... Read More »
Moderna officials said the company is slated to build a messenger RNA (mRNA) facility in Africa, producing up to 500 million vaccine doses annually at the 50 microgram dose level.
“Since Moderna’s founding in 2010, our mission has been to make a transformative impact on human lives through... Read More »
Two bipartisan bills from U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) on cybersecurity and infrastructure were approved by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and now head to the full Senate for a vote.
The bills, which require critical infrastructure owners... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and Israel Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) officials are touting a partnership to aid homeland security technology development.
The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Homeland Security (BIRD... Read More »
A pair of lawmakers have introduced a measure they said is designed to protect systemically important critical infrastructure (SICI) from cyber attacks.
Reps. John Katko (R-NY) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) recently detailed the the Securing Systemically Important Critical Infrastructure Act,... Read More »
VE303, an oral treatment developed by Vedanta Biosciences for patients at high risk of recurrent C. difficile infections (CDI), will get a Phase 3 clinical evaluation trial, thanks to support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
Support from the U.S. government... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the first vaccine to treat malaria in children, a mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 260,000 children under the age of five annually in sub-Saharan Africa, in what public health officials have called a historic development.
“The... Read More »
Although its COVID-19 vaccine was never authorized for use in the United States, AstraZeneca submitted a request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) for its long-acting antibody (LAAB) combination for use against symptomatic... Read More »
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials said the agency has selected Emory University to lead the latest Regional Disaster Health Response System site.
HHS noted Emory University is the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response's (ASPR) fourth site selected to... Read More »
Ending speculation, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) this week officially submitted data to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to request emergency use authorization (EUA) for a booster version of its COVID-19 vaccine among patients at least 18 years old.
Recent data showed that the J&J... Read More »
A newly released Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health report has detailed recommended federal policy changes regarding masks and respirators.
The report, Masks and Respirators for the 21st Century: Policy Changes Needed to Save Lives and Prevent... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) completed Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), a nationwide vaccination campaign focused on Afghan evacuees temporarily housed at eight domestic military installations.
As part of the initiative, 49,000 evacuees have been immunized for measles, mumps, rubella... Read More »
The over-the-counter (OTC) ACON Laboratories Flowflex COVID-19 Home Test has received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization.
FDA officials said the approval serves as testament to the agency's commitment to increasing the availability of accurate and reliable OTC tests to... Read More »
In a new report issued this week, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense warned that the United States needs to protect infrastructure, share and secure information, and maintain public works and services, or risk further devastation from biological threats like COVID-19.
The report was titled... Read More »
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) awarded an agreement worth approximately $22 million to the biopharmaceutical developer Dynavax Technologies Corporation this week, giving it two and a half years to develop an adjuvanted recombinant plague vaccine.
That vaccine will be adjuvanted with... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) released the text of their legislation that would strengthen cybersecurity across the federal government.
The legislation, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2021, would update existing legislation which has not been updated... Read More »
According to an announcement from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week, two upcoming meetings of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will be held next week to address the newest COVID-19 vaccine data.
These meetings will be... Read More »
