Telework helps FDA compete for scientists. What if it’s taken away?

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration needs to hire scores of in-demand scientists, and that difficult task could become even harder if the agency gives in to pressure from either Republicans or the Biden administration to return federal workers to the office.

There are more than 2,000 vacancies at the FDA right now — a number in keeping with past years, but one that underscores the agency’s constant difficulties hiring and keeping enough scientists to meet its vast responsibilities with respect to food and medical reviews. The FDA already got Congress to give it the power to pay bigger annual salaries for scientists to help it compete for talented officials, but even its highest annual offerings fall far short of what experienced staff could make in the private sector.