Current Status of COVID-19 Vaccines Rollout Nationwide: February 2021 Update for the Attorney General Community
In December 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to prevent COVID-19. Within twenty-four hours of each authorization, doses began shipping across the country to every state, marking significant milestones in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, over sixty-six million…
NAGTRI Resources and Training on the Legal and Policy Implications for COVID-19 Vaccines
On December 11, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to prevent COVID-19 among individuals 16 years of age and older. The following week, the FDA granted a separate EUA for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for those 18 years and older. Within twenty-four hours…
Congress Passes “No Surprises Act” To Protect Consumers From Unexpected Medical Bills
Tucked inside the omnibus appropriations bill that was passed in the waning days of the 116th Congress, the “No Surprises Act” aims to address the problem of surprise medical bills. Surprise medical bills happen when a patient unexpectedly receives services from an out-of-network provider or in an out-of-network facility. The bill provides protection from surprise medical…
States’ Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Helps Implement CDC Strategies to Reduce Tobacco Use
The Centers for Disease Control recently published results from its 2020 National Health Interview Survey on the subject of “Tobacco Product Use Among Adults – United States, 2019.”(( Cornelius ME, Wang TW, Jamal A, Loretan CG, Neff LJ. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1736–1742. DOI: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6946a4.htm?s_cid=mm6946a4_w ))…
NAAG Asks FDA for Progress Update Under the SUPPORT Act
We have witnessed first-hand the devastation that the opioid epidemic has wrought on states in terms of lives lost and the costs it has imposed on our healthcare system and the broader economy.
Attorneys General Push FDA to Examine Progress in Opioid Fight
Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) sent a letter asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to examine recent progress in the agency’s fight against the opioid epidemic. The bipartisan coalition of state and territory attorneys general is seeking a progress report regarding recent steps taken by the FDA to…
Attorneys General Urge Congress to Pass Extension for CARES Act Funding as Pandemic Impacts Economy
Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) sent a letter urging Congress to extend the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economy (CARES) Act funding until the end of 2021. COVID-19 has negatively impacted nearly every facet of American society. In anticipation of unprecedented costs and economic disruption stemming from the pandemic, Congress passed…
NAAG Urges Congress to Extend CARES Act Spending Deadline
With COVID-19 cases rising daily in much of the country and many states still under a health emergency declaration, we urge Congress to amend the CRF program to allow state and local governments to spend the funding at least until December 31, 2021.
NAAG Urges Congress to Pass Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act
This legislation ensures that families of officers and first responders lost while fighting the pandemic do not face unnecessary barriers to benefits they have already been promised.
Attorneys General Ask Apple and Google to Ensure All Contact Tracing Apps Serve a Public Health Purpose
Digital contact tracing may provide a valuable tool to understand the spread of COVID-19 and assist the public health response to the pandemic. However, such technology also poses a risk to consumers’ personally identifiable information, including sensitive health information, that could continue long after the present public health emergency ends.