Health Care Executive Orders And Legal Actions: Part Six

On March 14, 2025, President Trump rescinded a number of Biden-era executive orders (EOs), two of which are health related.

The Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Secretary of Education, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Director of the National Science Foundation to designate a senior official to serve as their agency’s lead to work on COVID-19 and pandemic-related data issues and to make data relevant to high-consequence public health threats publicly available and accessible.
HHS, in consultation with the COVID-19 response coordinator and the heads of relevant agencies, were to review the effectiveness, interoperability and connectivity of public health data systems supporting the detection of and response to high-consequence public health threats; review the collection of morbidity and mortality data by state, local, tribal and territorial governments during high-consequence public health threats; and issue a report summarizing the findings of the review and recommendations for addressing the areas of improvement identified.
OTSP in consultation with the National Science and Technology Council, was to develop a plan for advancing innovation in public health data and analytics in the United States.

Promotion of standards, establishment of metrics and develop systems to grow and assess the state of the bioeconomy to better inform policy, decision making and investments in the bioeconomy and to ensure equitable and ethical development of the bioeconomy.
Protection of the U.S bioeconomy by adopting a forward-looking, proactive approach to assessing and anticipating threats, risks and potential vulnerabilities and by partnering with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders to jointly mitigate risks to protect technology leadership and economic competitiveness.
Engagement with the international community to enhance biotechnology R&D cooperation consistent with U.S. principles and values that promote best practices for safe and security biotechnology and biomanufacturing research, innovation and product development and use.

The EO outlined numerous responsibilities and a timeline for parts of the government to meet the goals of the EO.