WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2023) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lacks effective plans for rapidly producing drugs, vaccines, and other countermeasures for the next public health emergency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report.
"Without a program that has the capability to build up, maintain, and regularly use domestic countermeasure manufacturing capabilities, HHS risks being unable to meet countermeasure manufacturing goals for future public health emergencies, especially if these emergencies bring about risks that the agency has not planned for, such as those experienced during the COVID-19 response," the report said on Thursday.
The US must secure private sector partnerships to surge manufacturing capacity, the report added. A lack of regular manufacturing work prevents the sites from developing the capability to rapidly produce countermeasures at a large scale, the GAO said.
The GAO recommended that the agency develops a better approach to systematically assess and respond to challenges and risks associated with advanced development and manufacturing of medical countermeasures.
In 2022, the GAO added HHS' leadership and coordination of public health emergencies to its "High Risk List," the watchdog said in a press release accompanying the report.
