With Megan R. Wilson

A GAP IN INTEL — The American intelligence community wasn’t ready for the Covid-19 pandemic and didn’t move quickly enough to stop it, according to a report Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee released Thursday.

POLITICO’s Erin Banco writes the report looked into the response in the early days of 2020, when clandestine collectors largely focused on analyzing public data on the virus instead of gathering clandestine information.

And the information collected didn’t reach the Trump administration until late January, according to the report, which said collectors “took too long to pivot their exquisite collection capabilities to meet senior officials’ needs to know more about the crisis.”

It’s part of the larger American response that public health experts have criticized for letting the virus spread at such a devastating rate.

Through the years, the CIA and other intelligence agencies haven’t prioritized tracking biological threats — and the pandemic hasn’t led to the needed adjustments to change that, the report said.

And Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a different report Thursday focusing on how the intelligence community handled the question of Covid’s origins.

That report accused the intelligence community of not addressing a potential link between the virus and China’s biological weapons effort.

WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. Be careful who you cheer for this weekend — the performance of a team can affect their fans’ self-esteem, research shows.

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TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Grace Scullion about the challenges the FDA faces as it tries to regulate the ever evolving tobacco industry.

Speaking of pandemic inquiries …

GOP COVID INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE — House Republicans, on the verge of leading the Oversight and Reform and Judiciary committees, requested documents, communication records and transcribed interviews with 40 people, including those across the Biden administration, related to the coronavirus’ origins, your host reports.

Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the likely incoming chairs of the two respective committees, sent letters Tuesday to leaders from whom they were requesting information and also targeted people involved in a report that cast doubt on the theory that Covid-19 originated from a laboratory.

They also sent requests to leaders of the EcoHealth Alliance, a nongovernmental organization that worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in studying dangerous viruses.

The incoming chairs said they’re investigating China’s “obscuring the truth” about the virus, as well as U.S. funding for the Wuhan Institute. Its proximity to the first Covid cases in Wuhan has raised suspicions that a lab leak might have caused the pandemic.

The new inquiries are another development in Republicans’ growing focus on pandemic oversight — which they look to ramp up through their majority next year.

BROADBAND, MENTAL HEALTH BILL SENT TO BIDEN’S DESK — On Tuesday, the Senate passed the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act, Ben reports.

The bill would require the FCC to incorporate maternal health outcomes into its broadband maps, with the goal of expanding broadband access to areas with poor maternal health outcomes. Supporters believe that will bolster telehealth access and, in doing so, improve maternal health outcomes. It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

PANDEMIC FUND OPENING FOR PROPOSALS — The World Bank will open its pandemic fund for proposals next month, looking to finance disease surveillance, national laboratory systems and human resources, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports.

The outcomes from the first round of funding will be key for the fund’s future, which aims to raise $10 billion to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. How much to distribute in initial grants is still to be decided.

So far, contributions have totaled $1.6 billion from 25 countries and other organizations. Public health leaders have emphasized the importance of funding pandemic preparedness even as some of the fund is set to be distributed.

EYE ON STREP CASES — Several European countries are experiencing an increase in group A strep cases, according to a WHO report — and now the cases are being watched in the U.S., too.

The Colorado Department of Public Health said it’s monitoring increasing cases, not long after the WHO reported the disease is on the rise in France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Colorado said invasive group A strep is causing severe illness, though cases remain relatively rare. Two pediatric deaths have been tied to the disease, officials said.

SUPPORT DROPS FOR ROUTINE VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS — The number of adults who support requiring childhood vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella fell more than 10 percentage points, according to a new report from KFF.

Most people — now 71 percent — support requiring the shots to attend school, but the drop over recent years is still significant, especially for Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.

The report points to public and politicized debates over requiring vaccines through the pandemic as a reason for the moves in public opinion.

Watch The POLITICO Show on Snapchat, reporting on what Megan Thee Stallion (and Congress) have been doing to focus on mental health nationwide.

FIRST IN PULSE: PHARMACIES PUSH BIDEN FOR EXTENDED COVID POLICIES — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores sent a letter Thursday to the White House asking for an extension of pandemic-era amendments made to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.

The Biden administration’s amendment during the pandemic allowed more people to administer Covid-19 vaccines, effectively increasing the number of shots a pharmacy could give over time.

The industry group, which includes some of the largest pharmacies in the nation, pointed to the multiple ongoing viral outbreaks in the country, arguing more needs to be done to boost vaccinations.

The administration received similar requests earlier in the year from the same group, but it said the responses weren’t enough. On Thursday, the White House announced its plan for potential winter surges of Covid cases.

The pharmacies are asking the administration to issue an amendment that would continue through October 2024.

The National Community Pharmacists Association has promoted Anne Cassity to senior vice president of government affairs. In that role, she'll lead the group’s federal and state advocacy and oversee its political and external affairs. Her resume includes working at Centene and as a health care adviser to then-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Kaiser Health News’ Andy Miller reports on the hospitals creating their own staffing agencies amid high labor costs.

The New York Times’ Rebecca Robbins, Katie Thomas and Jessica Silver-Greenberg write that one of the country’s largest health systems spent years cutting jobs before a staffing crisis through the pandemic.