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President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order Wednesday seeking to strengthen America's supply chains in several sectors to bolster the economy and protect workers, administration officials said. The executive order would strengthen supply chains for critical goods primarily in mainly four areas: pharmaceuticals, rare earth minerals, semiconductor chips and large-capacity batteries. Officials said the order was prompted, in part, by the widespread shortage of personal protective equipment and supply chain issues at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic during the Trump administration. (Clark, 2/24)

Biden’s executive order, which he is scheduled to sign this afternoon, also is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the shortages of personal protective gear such as masks and gloves experienced last year during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re going to get out of the business of reacting to supply chain crises as they arise,” said one administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters. (Lynch, 2/24)

Stable supply chains are critical for national security, something that became clear as healthcare workers struggled to get enough masks and protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also important to help the Biden administration achieve some of its goals, such as getting more electric cars on the road and beefing up the country’s cybersecurity defenses. (Megerian, 2/24)

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could soon release more relaxed safety recommendations for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, Fauci said the CDC will likely issue guidance after agency officials “sit down, talk about it, look at the data and then come out with a recommendation based on the science.” (Castronuovo, 2/23)

President Joe Biden said Tuesday the White House will "probably" move to send face masks directly to Americans as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. It's a plan originally proposed by health officials during the Trump administration but was blocked by the former President. "We're probably going to be sending out an awful lot of masks around the country very shortly, millions of them," Biden said during a roundtable event with Black frontline workers. He said that the issue of masks was turned into a political issue, which cost "an awful lot of lives." (Hoffman, 2/23)