GAO Issues Report on Federal Government’s COVID-19 Response

On Monday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal government’s watchdog agency, issued a nearly 500-page report on the federal government’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The GAO report outlines a series of recommendations intended to bring an end to the pandemic and strengthen national preparedness for future health emergencies.

The report emphasizes the importance of the federal government’s vaccination efforts as demographic disparities in vaccination rates persist and per-day vaccination rates decline. The GAO sets forth 15 recommendations, in addition to previously issued recommendations, related to testing and surveillance activities, relief funding for state and local agencies, and government agency communications. A section of the GAO report focuses on medical technologies, including laboratory testing and sequencing, domestic medical supply sources, and the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).

The full GAO report is available here.