Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government To Provide a Unified and Effective Response To Combat COVID-19 and To Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security

Executive Order 13987 of January 20, 2021

Organizing and Mobilizing the United States
Government To Provide a Unified and Effective Response
To Combat COVID-19 and To Provide United States
Leadership on Global Health and Security

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Purpose. The Federal Government must act
swiftly and aggressively to combat coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19). To that end, this order creates the
position of Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response and
Counselor to the President and takes other steps to
organize the White House and activities of the Federal
Government to combat COVID-19 and prepare for future
biological and pandemic threats.

Sec. 2. Organizing the White House to Combat COVID-19.
(a) In order to effectively, fully, and immediately
respond to COVID-19, there is established within the
Executive Office of the President the position of
Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response and Counselor to
the President (COVID-19 Response Coordinator) and the
position of Deputy Coordinator of the COVID-19
Response. The COVID-19 Response Coordinator shall
report directly to the President; advise and assist the
President and executive departments and agencies
(agencies) in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic;
coordinate all elements of the COVID-19 response; and
perform such duties as the President may otherwise
direct. These duties shall include:

(i) coordinating a Government-wide effort to reduce disparities in the
response, care, and treatment of COVID-19, including racial and ethnic
disparities;

(ii) coordinating the Federal Government's efforts to produce, supply, and
distribute personal protective equipment, vaccines, tests, and other
supplies for the Nation's COVID-19 response, including through the use of
the Defense Production Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.);

(iii) coordinating the Federal Government's efforts to expand COVID-19
testing and the use of testing as an effective public health response;

(iv) coordinating the Federal Government's efforts to support the timely,
safe, and effective delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the United States
population;

(v) coordinating the Federal Government's efforts to support the safe
reopening and operation of schools, child care providers, and Head Start
programs, and to help ensure the continuity of educational and other
services for young children and elementary and secondary students during
the COVID-19 pandemic; and

(vi) coordinating, as appropriate, with State, local, Tribal, and
territorial authorities.

    (b) The COVID-19 Response Coordinator shall have
the authority to convene principals from relevant
agencies, in consultation with the Assistant to the
President for Domestic Policy (APDP) on matters
involving the domestic COVID-19 response, and in
consultation with the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs (APNSA) on matters involving
the global COVID-19 response. The COVID-19 Response
Coordinator shall also coordinate any corresponding
deputies and interagency processes.

    (c) The COVID-19 Response Coordinator may act
through designees in performing these or any other
duties.

Sec. 3. United States Leadership on Global Health and
Security and the Global COVID-19 Response.

    (a) Preparing to Respond to Biological Threats and
Pandemics. To identify, monitor, prepare for, and, if
necessary, respond to emerging biological and pandemic
threats:

(i) The APNSA shall convene the National Security Council (NSC) Principals
Committee as necessary to coordinate the Federal Government's efforts to
address such threats and to advise the President on the global response to
and recovery from COVID-19, including matters regarding: the intersection
of the COVID-19 response and other national security equities; global
health security; engaging with and strengthening the World Health
Organization; public health, access to healthcare, and the secondary
impacts of COVID-19; and emerging biological risks and threats, whether
naturally occurring, deliberate, or accidental.

(ii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the APNSA shall, in
coordination with relevant agencies, the COVID-19 Response Coordinator, and
the APDP, complete a review of and recommend actions to the President
concerning emerging domestic and global biological risks and national
biopreparedness policies. The review and recommended actions shall
incorporate lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and, among other things,
address: the readiness of the pandemic supply chain, healthcare workforce,
and hospitals; the development of a framework of pandemic readiness with
specific triggers for when agencies should take action in response to
large-scale biological events; pandemic border readiness; the development
and distribution of medical countermeasures; epidemic forecasting and
modeling; public health data modernization; bio-related intelligence;
bioeconomic investments; biotechnology risks; the development of a
framework for coordinating with and distributing responsibilities as
between the Federal Government and State, local, Tribal, and territorial
authorities; and State, local, Tribal, and territorial preparedness for
biological events.

    (b) NSC Directorate on Global Health Security and
Biodefense. There shall be an NSC Directorate on Global
Health Security and Biodefense, which shall be headed
by a Senior Director for Global Health Security and
Biodefense. The Senior Director shall be responsible
for monitoring current and emerging biological threats,
and shall report concurrently to the APNSA and to the
COVID-19 Response Coordinator on matters relating to
COVID-19. The Senior Director shall oversee the Global
Health Security Agenda Interagency Review Council,
which was established pursuant to Executive Order 13747
of November 4, 2016 (Advancing the Global Health
Security Agenda To Achieve a World Safe and Secure From
Infectious Disease Threats), and is hereby reconvened
as described in that order.
    (c) Responsibility for National Biodefense
Preparedness. Notwithstanding any statements in the
National Security Presidential Memorandum-14 of
September 18, 2018 (Support for National Biodefense),
the APNSA shall be responsible for coordinating the
Nation's biodefense preparedness efforts, and, as
stated in sections 1 and 2 of this order, the COVID-19
Response Coordinator shall be responsible for
coordinating the Federal Government's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.

Sec. 4. Prompt Resolution of Issues Related to the
United States COVID-19 Response. The heads of agencies
shall, as soon as practicable, bring any procedural,
departmental, legal, or funding obstacle to the COVID-
19 response to the attention of the COVID-19 Response
Coordinator. The COVID-19 Response Coordinator shall,
in coordination with relevant agencies, the APDP, and
the APNSA, as appropriate, immediately bring to the
President's attention any issues that require
Presidential guidance or decision-making.

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to availability of
appropriations.
    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 20, 2021.