Highlights The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the current administration, has taken umbrage at how lower courts have interpreted the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), insisting that the HHS Secretary's Declaration under the Act must be construed in accordance with HHS advisory opinions. In light of a spate of recent lawsuits related to COVID-19, most involving nursing homes and other healthcare facilities, HHS has received questions as to whether the PREP Act applies where covered persons (i.e., staff) decline to use a covered countermeasure when it arguably ought to have been used.