February 20, 2018

NEWS
USAMRIID-Bavarian Nordic Smallpox Vaccine Phase 3 Study. Bavarian Nordic announced on Feb. 6 the results of a successful Phase 3 clinical trial led by the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) that demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the company's investigational, non-replicating smallpox vaccine, IMVAMUNE®. (Global Biodefense, 2/19/18)

NEWS
White House Proposes Shifting Kansas Bio-Defense Lab from Homeland Security to USDA.  The 2019 federal budget released this week proposes transferring authority over the facility to the US Department of Agriculture. The transfer wouldn't happen until the facility operational, scheduled for 2022. But officials say the USDA will work closely with DHS long before the lab opens.  (KCUR 89.3, 2/16/18)

NEWS
Trump's New Health Chief Backs CDC Research on Gun Violence. Azar told an Energy and Commerce subcommittee that a provision passed two decades ago limiting the CDC's work on gun violence only prevents it from taking an advocacy position - not from doing research.  (Politico, 2/15/18)

STATEMENT
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD on the Efficacy of the 2017-2018 Influenza Vaccine.  Vaccination is one of the best ways known to protect against the flu. However, because of the severity of this season, there have been questions raised about how well this year's flu vaccine worked. Although the initial report of 36 percent overall efficacy for this year's vaccine in the United States that has been reported by our colleagues at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is better than some might have predicted, there is still clearly significant room for improvement.  (FDA, 2/15/18)

See also:

•  Interim Estimates of 2017-18 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness - United States, February 2018 (CDC, 2/16/18)
• Influenza Activity - United States, October 1, 2017-February 3, 2018 (CDC, 2/16/18)

NEWS
Proposed Federal Budget Slashes Funds to EPA, CDC. The proposal calls for cuts to some science agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while maintaining or boosting funding for others. (The Scientist, 2/13/18)

See also: Efficient, Effective, Accountable: An American Budget (Fiscal Year 2019) (The White House, 2/19)

RESEARCH
Impact of a Hypothetical Infectious Disease Outbreak on US Exports and Export-Based Jobs. CDC researchers estimated the impact on the US export economy of an illustrative infectious disease outbreak scenario in Southeast Asia that has 3 stages starting in 1 country and, if uncontained, spreads to 9 countries. (Health Security, 2/6/18)

See also: Relevance of Global Health Security to the US Export Economy (Health Security, 12/14/17)

WEBINAR
Crisis Emergency Risk Communications for Strategic National Stockpile Response.  CDC's Division of Strategic National Stockpile (DSNS) will host a webinar for public health partners from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., ET, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, to share key considerations related to crisis and emergency risk communications. DSNS and Division of Emergency Operations communications experts will describe the public's information and communication needs before, during, and after an incident and identify potential communication opportunities and challenges specific to Strategic National Stockpile planning and response operations. Registration is required.  (NACCHO, 2/18)

NEWS
Thousands of FEMA Rescuers Spent More Time Traveling, Awaiting Orders Than on Rescues.  Thousands of the country's most highly skilled rescuers who deployed to hurricane-hit regions of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico spent more time traveling and awaiting orders than they did rescuing residents, racking up an anticipated $92 million in reimbursement claims from the cash-strapped Federal Emergency Management Agency.  (USA TODAY, 2/18/18)

BLOG
USDA Agencies Band Together to Assist Producers Impacted by 2017 Hurricanes. USDA offers a variety of programs and services to help people in all walks of life that have been hard hit by disaster events ranging from livestock disaster assistance programs, crop insurance, conservation efforts, housing assistance and animal quarantine and disease response. (USDA, 2/14/18)

NEWS
Army Team Equips Soldiers to Take on Chemical, Biological Warfare. Tony Kemp and Wendell Williams are seasoned program managers who lead Mobile Training Teams from Special Programs Division at US Army Dugway Providing Ground, Utah, providing comprehensive chemical and biological field training exercises, demonstrations, laboratory instruction and briefings for military units, emergency first responders and allied partners around the globe. (US Army, 2/1/18)

ANNOUNCEMENT
WMD Epigenetic CHaracterization and Observation (ECHO) Proposers Day. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Biological Technologies Office is sponsoring a Proposers Day in support of the ECHO program. The ECHO program aims to build a field-deployable platform technology that quickly reads someone's epigenome and identifies signatures that indicate whether that person has ever-in his or her lifetime-been exposed to materials that could be associated with weapons of mass destruction. (Global Biodefense, 2/12/18)

REPORT

JASON: Artificial Intelligence for Health Care. The field of artificial intelligence is habitually susceptible to exaggerated claims and expectations. But when it comes to new applications in health care, some of those claims may prove to be valid, says a new report from the JASON scientific advisory panel. This report was requested and sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services. (Federation of American Scientists, 2/1/18)

See also: Artificial Intelligence for Health and Health Care (JASON, 12/17)

COMMENTARY
Genome Editing: Insights from Chemical Biology to Support Safe and Transformative Therapeutic Applications. Fundamental limitations currently prevent the widespread, safe, and practical use of genome editors, especially for human disease interventions. Researchers from DARPA address the potential for biological chemistry to address these limitations such that newly developed genome editing technologies can enable the broadest range of potential future applications. (ACS Chemical Biology, 2/18)

This Week's Hearing

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