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# FDA Should Do More in Covid Response: GAO
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-should-do-more-in-covid-response-gao/
- Published: 2021-02-02T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:44:56.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5148571

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says FDA and many other HHS agencies should be doing more as part of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. GAO also criticizes the agencies for not implementing many of its earlier recommendations.

In its latest [report](https://www.gao.gov/reports/GAO-21-265/?ref=fdaweb.com), GAO says FDA should: 

- as it makes changes to its collection of drug manufacturing data, ensure the information obtained is complete and accessible to help the agency identify and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, including by working with manufacturers and other federal agencies and, if necessary, seek authority to obtain complete and accessible information;
- as inspection plans for future years are developed, ensure that such plans identify, analyze, and respond to the issues presented by the backlog of inspections that could jeopardize the goal of risk-driven inspections; and
- fully assess the agency’s alternative inspection tools and consider whether these tools or others could provide the information needed to supplement regular inspection activities or help meet the agency’s drug oversight objectives when inspections are not possible in the future.