Health and social policy

Executive Order 13996: Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Established a White House testing board, directed expanded free and priority-population testing, and ordered plans for a larger public-health workforce and U.S. Public Health Job Corps.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13996 still in effect? No. Revoked January 20, 2025; testing board and emergency workforce program ended.

Laboratory staff, a testing swab, a mobile clinic, workers and supply boxes span a stylized U.S. map.
Testing capacity and the public-health workforce, illustrated symbolically; not an operational testing or delivery map. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 13996 do?

The testing board was tasked with supply and access coordination, and HHS, Homeland Security and Labor with a workforce plan.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.
SignedJanuary 21, 2021
Lead officialsCOVID-19 Response Coordinator, HHS, Labor and Homeland Security
Express timingPrompt action; workforce strategy and five-year targets

Before and after

Before the order

Testing procurement, reimbursement and public-health staffing were fragmented across agencies and jurisdictions.

After the order

Federal purchasing and testing capacity expanded, while HHS developed workforce programs and plans; emergency structures wound down before EO 14148 formally revoked the order.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Testing BoardCoordinate testing supply, access and strategyDuring pandemic response
HHS and LaborSupport testing and consult on public-health workforcePromptly
HHS, DHS and LaborPlan a U.S. Public Health Job CorpsAs directed

What happened next

EO 13996 signed.

The federal public-health emergency ended.

EO 14148 revoked EO 13996.