Federal Health Unit Gets New Powers for Pandemic Response (1)

The Biden administration is giving new powers to an office within the Health and Human Services Department to take a more prominent role in responding to public health crises, spanning from pandemics to natural disasters.

HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response will be renamed and enabled to “mobilize a coordinated national response more quickly and stably during future disasters and emergencies,” Dawn O’Connell, who heads the unit, said in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

The office will be rebranded the Administration of Strategic Preparedness and Response and will be reclassified an operating division alongside ...