sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Officials reorganize HHS to boost pandemic response
Plan would elevate ASPR, which plays key role in emergencies, to be an agency on par with CDC, FDA
Updated July 20, 2022 at 4:26 p.m. EDT
|Published July 20, 2022 at 3:41 p.m. EDT
The Biden administration is reorganizing the federal health department to create an independent division that would lead the nation’s pandemic response, amid frustrations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The move elevates a roughly 1,000-person team — known as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, or ASPR — into a separate division, charged with coordinating the nation’s response to health emergencies, according to seven people briefed on the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
The reorganization allows the division “to mobilize a coordinated national response more quickly and stably during future disasters and emergencies while equipping us with greater hiring and contracting capabilities,” Dawn O’Connell, who leads ASPR and would run the new division, wrote to staff members Wednesday afternoon. The emailed memo was shared with The Washington Post.
more...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/20/biden-administration-aspr-independent-division/
Plan would elevate ASPR, which plays key role in emergencies, to be an agency on par with CDC, FDA
Updated July 20, 2022 at 4:26 p.m. EDT
|Published July 20, 2022 at 3:41 p.m. EDT
The Biden administration is reorganizing the federal health department to create an independent division that would lead the nation’s pandemic response, amid frustrations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The move elevates a roughly 1,000-person team — known as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, or ASPR — into a separate division, charged with coordinating the nation’s response to health emergencies, according to seven people briefed on the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
The reorganization allows the division “to mobilize a coordinated national response more quickly and stably during future disasters and emergencies while equipping us with greater hiring and contracting capabilities,” Dawn O’Connell, who leads ASPR and would run the new division, wrote to staff members Wednesday afternoon. The emailed memo was shared with The Washington Post.
more...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/20/biden-administration-aspr-independent-division/