Shutdown Threat Clogs FDA Workload as Vaccine Push Continues

FDA review of Covid-19 vaccines for school-age children and other pandemic matters would likely weather a government shutdown without interruption, but other high stakes work could fall to the wayside.

The Department of Health and Human Services said it will use the full extent of existing authorities to keep the Covid-19 response going in the event of a shutdown. But the Food and Drug Administration must parse through all of its work and assess whether it can continue under an emergency exception—a time-consuming task for an agency that’s already working around the clock to review vaccines, diagnostics, and tests for ...