NIH still blaming FOIA delays on the pandemic

The National Institutes of Health is still blaming processing delays for public records requests on the COVID-19 shutdown from five years ago, with response times to simple inquiries reportedly averaging months.

To this day, NIH’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) portal says hospitals, research institutions, healthcare companies, and medical professionals whose records are subject to information requests “remain severely affected by the pandemic” and “require additional time to respond.” NIH records officers may also need more time to review and approve redactions, the agency says.