President Biden’s announcement that the Labor Department will implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate has sent shockwaves rippling through the country. In particular, the plan calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require full vaccination or undergo weekly testing. Conservative politicians balked at the notion of a vaccine mandate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened…
President Biden announces COVID-19 vaccine mandates
In the early days of the administration, the White House stressed the importance of providing adequate infrastructure for mass vaccination. But now that vaccination rates have stalled, President Biden is advocating a more forceful approach. In an address yesterday, Biden advocated that the private sector enact vaccine mandates and urged healthcare workers to recommend shots…
White House envisions $65 billion plan to battle future pandemics
With President Biden’s popularity recently slipping to a new low, the White House has announced a sweeping plan to blunt the impact of future pandemics. In the proposal titled “American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming Our Capabilities,” the White House argues that “critical work” is “needed to transform U.S. capabilities to respond rapidly and effectively to any…
U.S. could recommend COVID-19 boosters at five months, according to Biden
Facing the second-largest COVID-19 wave to date, U.S. regulators are mulling providing boosters three months earlier than initially anticipated. People who are fully vaccinated would be eligible for a booster dose five months after receiving the second dose, Biden said, noting that the plan was still tentative. On Aug. 18, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy…
COVID-19 vaccine mandates likely to accelerate
Now that the FDA has approved the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine for those 16 and older, it is likely that vaccine mandates will become more common. Following the approval of the vaccine, the Pentagon, CVS, Chevron, Disney World, New York and New Jersey schools, and other organizations have signaled their intent to enforce vaccine mandates. Yesterday, President…
CMS retreats from ‘most favored nation’ drug pricing scheme
Former President Trump’s plan to peg the price of some drugs to those paid in other developed nations was always controversial. Not long after Trump unveiled an executive order supporting the idea on Sept. 13, 2020, organizations, including PhRMA and Regeneron, filed lawsuits to block the rule. Several courts agreed that the policy, which CMS codified…
Biden offers $100 incentives to spur COVID-19 vaccination
With COVID-19 transmission continuing to accelerate, President Biden called for state and local governments to offer financial incentives for vaccination. Speaking at a White House briefing dedicated to the novel coronavirus, Biden offered to draw such funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. “People are dying and will die who don’t have to die,”…
Biden and Pelosi pursuing plans to cap drug prices
President Biden has instructed FDA to develop a plan to import prescription drugs from Canada while asking federal officials to create a “comprehensive plan” to cut drug prices within 45 days. Biden has also recommended that FTC block “pay for delay” agreements from pharma companies paying generic drug makers to hold off on introducing competitive…
President Biden unveils initiative to boost COVID-19 vaccination numbers
With new cases of COVID-19 increasing 14% in the past two weeks, President Biden is aiming to convince unvaccinated Americans to get their first dose of the vaccine. CDC data show that the highly transmissible Delta variant now dominates the U.S., driving close to 52% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. from June 19 to…
White House to allocate 55M COVID-19 vaccine doses for global distribution
The Biden-Harris administration today announced a global distribution list for 55 million doses of America’s COVID-19 vaccine supply. Biden pledged to allocate 80 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine supply belonging to the U.S. by the end of June to aid the global fight against the pandemic. Earlier this month, the administration announced the plan…