The Department of Health and Human Services is creating a new division to coordinate response to pandemic threats. The division will operate out of H.H.S. headquarters in Washington. It will oversee the National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency medical reserve, and vaccine distribution. People familiar with the move say ASPR will be turned into an operating division. New hiring and contracting authority will be phased in “over a period of time”. The decision appeared to catch some top federal health officials by surprise, senior officials said. The Biden administration will “rue the day that they clipped C.D.C.’s wings,” Dr. Luciana Borio says. Borio is concerned that in a pandemic, it will be unclear who’s in charge under the new HHS-H.H.S.
Works Cited
The Biden Administration Is Elevating a Division of H.H.S. to More Broadly Oversee Pandemic Responses. www.nytimes.com, 20 July 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/20/world/covid-19-mandates-vaccine-cases.
