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The federal health department's framework for monitoring high-risk research on viruses and other agents that can cause pandemics doesn't meet key criteria for effective oversight, a new watchdog report concludes. The Government Accountability Office found HHS has an unclear policy for reviewing and approving research involving pathogens that are altered to make them more transmissible or deadly — and that other policy gaps may allow the research to occur without appropriate oversight. (Bettelheim, 1/19)

The Government Accountability Office’s report is a precursor to a debate that will heat up at the National Institutes of Health over the next few weeks. NIH has an advisory board for biosecurity that’s expected to discuss a draft review of the agency’s oversight of this kind of research at a Jan. 27 meeting, and the materials are expected to be released ahead of time. (Cohrs, 1/18)

Critics view pathogen research as the Wild West of science. Virologists have faced online abuse and even death threats amid fears that what they do is dangerous. Above all, conjectures that the coronavirus pandemic might have originated from secret laboratory research have cast a shadow over the field. Independent of that rancorous debate about covid’s origin, the National Institutes of Health is preparing an overhaul of the policies on government-funded research, with draft recommendations by its biosecurity board expected to be released Friday. (Achenbach, 1/18)

Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chief of medicine and a prominent Bay Area voice on the pandemic, called a new report on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines “superb,” noting that it debunks “the fallacy that they’re causing significant harm.” (Vaziri and Beamish, 1/18)

After a similar proposal died last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed Tuesday to pass a measure that would shield physicians from being disciplined for expressing views on issues such as COVID-19. (Saunders, 1/18)

The Elko County Board of Health took no action at its meeting Wednesday on an agenda item that asked the board to consider issuing a moratorium on administering COVID-19 and flu vaccines. A concerned resident asked for the moratoriums to be placed on the agenda, citing concerns with heart problems and inflammation. (Hill, 1/18)

The Washington state Medical Commission has accused a medical doctor in Idaho of violating standards related to COVID-19 and patient care. The commission said Wednesday it had issued a statement of disciplinary charges against Dr. Ryan Cole of Idaho, who has a license in Washington state as a physician and surgeon. Cole lives in Idaho, has a medical license there and is currently one of Ada County’s appointed members of the Central District Board of Health, KTVB-TV reported. (1/19)

Heading into the winter months when COVID-19 cases spike, the Biden administration knew they had a problem. Less than half of nursing home residents across the country, who are at higher risk of seriousness illness and death from COVID, were up to date on their vaccines. (Groppe and Fraser, 1/19)

The European Union's drug regulator has not identified any safety signals in the region related to U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech's updated COVID-19 shot, the agency said on Wednesday. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a safety monitoring system had flagged that the shot could possibly be linked to a type of brain stroke in older adults, according to preliminary data. (1/18)

The chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Thursday warned the coronavirus pandemic will likely settle into an endemic phase and renewed calls for policymakers to sufficiently finance pandemic preparedness. (Meredith, 1/19)