Countermeasures
Members of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workforce are helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) pandemic response by volunteering to help at community vaccination centers.
The volunteers are part of TSA’s Surge Capacity Force (SCF), a program for federal... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) personnel recently joined NASCAR and law enforcement officials in a tabletop exercise focusing on GEICO 500 hypothetical public safety incidents.
CISA Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security... Read More »
Bell Textron and Army officials said terms have been reached regarding the execution of the Competitive Demonstration and Risk Reduction (CD&RR) contract's second phase involving the V-280 Valor design.
“This is the next step to a program of record, and Bell is proud to closely collaborate... Read More »
Clinicians have created a portable test -- dubbed NIRVANA -- capable of detecting and sequencing COVID-19, its variants, and other viruses in mere moments, according to data published in the journal Med.
Primarily, the test cuts out the need for extra diagnostics and middlemen.
"This is a... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) announced this week that it will invest up to $200 million into promising vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2 and Betacoronavirus, following a call for proposals.
This funding will carry candidates through to clinical proof of concept and forms one... Read More »
Global healthcare company GSK has reached a principle agreement with Novavax and the UK Government Vaccines Taskforce to support the manufacturing of up to 60 million doses of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine.
Under the agreement, GSK will provide manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility... Read More »
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) officials said the agency has provided funding for studies evaluating the therapeutic potential of aCT1 eye drops in models of sulfur mustard corneal injury.
BARDA officials said the effort is via its Division of Research, Innovation... Read More »
The Navy has awarded BAE Systems a four-year $42.5 million contract to provide shore-based landing systems integration (LSI) support services for instrument carrier and instrument landing systems (ICLS/ILS).
“For several decades, we have been responsible for integrating the Navy’s landing... Read More »
Over the next year, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will lead a study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness on health workers, thanks to a $4.9 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Participants in what is being called the PREVENT (Preventing... Read More »
Even as the United States reels from a year under the thumb of COVID-19, a new analysis from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, released this week, warns that without action, the nation remains dangerously vulnerable to another pandemic or biological threat.
The report, Biodefense in... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell (D-AK), John Katko (R-NY), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), and Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced legislation Monday designed to mitigate the nationwide physician shortages by boosting the number of Medicare-supported residency positions.
The Resident Physician Shortage Act of 2021 would... Read More »
Moderna, a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, announced Monday that it has shipped the 100 millionth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. government.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 67 million doses of the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to expand older adult COVID-19 vaccine access.
The initiative would provide nearly $100 million to assist with... Read More »
Faced with an already mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus, the world has found itself needing to adapt its countermeasures -- and a team of scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has responded with a new test capable of detecting even mutated strains.
The VaNGuard test, as it is... Read More »
A total of five national laboratories are now a part of the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) consortium, assisting public-private efforts to develop an artificial intelligence(AI)-driven drug discovery platform.
The latest labs to join this week were the U.S.... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jim Risch (R-ID), Todd Young (R-IN), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced last week the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021, hoping to strengthen and expand peace and normalization agreements between Israel and surrounding nations.
The bill... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) recently reintroduced a bill designed to enhance the relationship between the United States and Taiwan.
The Taiwan Relations Reinforcement Act would strengthen the relationship between the nations by creating an interagency Taiwan policy task... Read More »
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) and Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) recently introduced a measure they said adjusts monthly benefits for family members and survivors of veterans who lost their lives in service to the nation.
The Caring for Survivors Act of 2021 seeks to... Read More »
Investigational SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 was submitted for emergency use authorization (EUA) at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week by developers GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Pitched as a treatment for mild to moderate cases of... Read More »
A bipartisan group of senators, led by U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) last week with concerns about and calls to action against coronavirus vaccine misinformation being sown among veterans.
While misinformation has been a... Read More »
A Phoenix man is in custody after being charged with fraudulently applying for Paycheck Protection Program loans, investigators with the federal government said.
James Theodore Polzin, 47, of Mesa, Ariz., was charged with three charges of fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency... Read More »
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) have offered thoughts regarding the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) update of its January 2016 report assessing firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico.
Meeks and Durbin provided input regarding how the report... Read More »
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has introduced four bills designed to empower immigration courts and make offender aliens deportable.
“The Biden administration’s reckless policies are openly inviting gangs and cartels to flock to the border, so it’s more urgent than ever that we ensure dangerous... Read More »
According to a new study from the Galveston National Laboratory, published last week in Nature Communications, combining monoclonal antibodies and the antiviral remdesivir can make for a potent defense against the lethal Marburg virus (MARV).
Conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch... Read More »
The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is playing a major role in the fight against COVID-19 in the United States, deploying more than 300 units to assist vaccination efforts in 43 states, plus Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
“MRC units started training for COVID-19... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday that they will be making available $20 million in grant funding through the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program to help communities develop programs to combat terrorism and targeted violence.... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reemphasizing the federal government needs to proceed with greater urgency to bolster cybersecurity initiatives across the board amid rapidly evolving threats.
Per the GAO, the government needs to take 10 actions to address four major challenges... Read More »
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and INTERPOL personnel said the agencies have partnered to issue public warnings concerning online COVID-19 vaccines and treatment purchases.
“Counterfeit vaccines threaten the health of consumers who are duped by nefarious actors seeking to exploit the... Read More »
A bill first introduced in the 116th Congress -- the Securing America from Epidemics (SAFE) Act (H.R. 2118) -- is making the rounds in the House of Representatives again, thanks to its reintroduction by U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).
Bera, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia,... Read More »
Moving quickly to tamp down concerns raised by the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) this week, AstraZeneca announced today that primary analysis of its AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine’s phase three trial confirmed 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic cases.
“The primary analysis... Read More »
Cipla Therapeutics, and SIGA Technologies, Inc, announced Tuesday that they would be entering into a strategic partnership to deliver innovation and access to novel antibacterial drugs, particularly to fight biothreats.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anti-microbial resistance... Read More »
Northrop Grumman Systems and Lockheed Martin have been awarded Department of Defense (DOD) contracts supporting the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program.
NGI is an advanced interceptor designed to protect against intercontinental ballistic missile attacks. The DOD would ensure the overall... Read More »
A recently released Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health report is calling on the United States to address COVID-19 health misinformation and disinformation.
The call for a national strategy stems from the findings in "National Priorities to Combat... Read More »
Topline results from a phase three trial of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. COVID-19 antibody treatment, REGEN-COV, are in, demonstrating 70 percent reductions in hospitalization or death and shortened symptom durations.
The results were not overly affected by dosage. Across three dosage... Read More »
Encouraged by its success against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses in test-tube studies, Pfizer Inc. has launched a phase one study of healthy adults to determine if multiple ascending doses of an oral antiviral therapeutic could be effective against COVID-19.
PF-07321332 is a protease... Read More »
