In April 2020, NIH, with OBSSR collaboration and support, launches the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Initiative to develop rapid, easy-to-use, accurate testing and make it available nationwide.

In January 2020, OBSSR spearheads efforts for an agreement between NIH and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, (NCHS). Through this agreement, NIH will reimburse the NCHS National Death Index (NDI) for the costs of NIH-supported investigators to link their research databases with the NDI for the research aims supported by the NIH.

In December 2020, OBSSR develops “A Communicator’s Tip Sheet for COVID-19 Vaccination.” This tip sheet has recommended do’s and don’ts for COVID-19 vaccination communication.

An NIH-wide planning group led by Sylvia Chou at NCI and Christine Hunter at OBSSR convenes a panel of leaders in the social and behavioral sciences and in public health to summarize evidence-informed communication strategies in support of national coronavirus vaccine distribution efforts across federal agencies and their state and local partners.

OBSSR, in collaboration with NIH ICs, helps to establish standard data collection protocols for COVID-19 research using The PhenX Toolkit, which is a catalog of recommended measurement protocols suitable for use in a variety of research study designs involving human participants.

In FY2019, OBSSR and participating ICs re-issue Short Courses on Innovative Methodologies and Approaches in the Behavioral and Social Sciences (RFA-OD-19-012) to eight grantees to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.