The Biden administration will not proceed with enforcing its vaccine mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees given a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The administration had planned on putting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in charge of administering the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. While a statement…
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…
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…
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…