Rule­mak­ing au­thor­i­ty re­stored at FDA as a show of sup­port in a tu­mul­tuous time

Just a day af­ter two top ca­reer vac­cine lead­ers at FDA re­tired at a key mo­ment of the pan­dem­ic, HHS has now for­mal­ly re­versed a ques­tion­able Trump-era memo that had abol­ished FDA’s abil­i­ty to write new rules.

That memo from then-HHS Sec­re­tary Alex Azar, is­sued Sept. 15, 2020, re­scind­ed “any pri­or del­e­ga­tion of rule­mak­ing au­thor­i­ty” at the FDA. On Wednes­day, how­ev­er, HHS Sec­re­tary Xavier Be­cer­ra is­sued a del­e­ga­tion that re­voked the 2020 memo as it ap­plies to FDA, and re­in­stat­ed any del­e­ga­tions to FDA re­scind­ed by the memo.

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