Reckoning with the possibility of bad actors taking advantage of a crisis, House members introduced two bills this week to protect patients from price-gouging on taxpayer funded COVID-19 drugs, avoid monopolies, and strengthen oversight of federally invested research and development funds.
The... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories recently announced that it was working with medical device manufacturers to test mask materials and with local hospitals to evaluate N95 mask cleaning methods to boost the availability of masks in the beleaguered United States healthcare system.
This assistance is... Read More »
A panel of public health experts called on Congress to focus on creating a mechanism that would help create vaccines for future pandemics, even as the world is working to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
“This pandemic is a harbinger of things to come,” Julie Gerberding, former... Read More »
Two officials in Monroe County, N.Y., announced earlier this month they would be introducing a law that would require pharmacies in Monroe County to dispense at least one dose of Narcan when filling an opioid prescription.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on many people... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DoD) said five Defense Production Act Title III actions funded with $187 million would sustain and strengthen essential domestic industrial base capabilities and the defense-critical workforce.
“These actions will help to retain critical workforce capabilities... Read More »
Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Chris Coons (D-DE) joined 13 colleagues last week to introduce legislation designed to prevent foreign governments from stealing research and intellectual property domestically developed at colleges and universities.
The Safeguarding American Innovation Act gives... Read More »
In an effort to reduce shortages and the reliance on foreign medical supply chains, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Department of Defense (DoD) have teamed up with Corning, Inc. to produce more glass tubing and vials quicker.
In particular, the federal... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) initiated a partnership with digital health developer Empatica last week that focuses on developing a wearable system and algorithm that can detect early signs of COVID-19 infection in individuals.
That system, known as Aura,... Read More »
Researchers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) have developed a way for people to decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) at home.
DHS’s S&T researchers have found that programmable multicookers can be used to decontaminate masks,... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) introduced two bills designed to protect and strengthen military bases from threats related to climate change and energy dependency.
One of the bills is the DOD Water Assessment and Testing Enhanced Reporting (WATER) Act, introduced by Crow, along with Reps. Xochitl... Read More »
Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) recently announced plans to introduce legislation designed to aid in retaining top talent by providing a pathway to an immigrant visa for non-citizens engaged in national security protection.
The National Security Innovation Pathway Act seeks... Read More »
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) officials said the agencies have partnered to expedite vial manufacturing capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through Operation Warp Speed, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under the... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) last week that called for efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to guarantee it has enough responders for emergencies and can evaluate training properly, a call echoed... Read More »
The lack of a cohesive national plan for dealing with COVID-19 was once more brought to the fore last week with the release of a report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, which laid out a series of recommendations surrounding antibody studies.
These antibody studies --... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) introduced legislation to combat the threat of disinformation during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The increased use of deepfakes, manipulated media, and online bots to spread disinformation has become an emerging homeland security threat. The Protecting... Read More »
