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president-elect joe biden wasted no time putting the coronavirus pandemic at the top of his upcoming administration’s priority list. news of his presidential win broke saturday morning, and by monday, biden and vice president-elect kamala harris’ transition team announced their covid-19 advisory board.
it’s a stark contrast to the outgoing trump administration. u.s. president donald trump’s chief of staff mark meadows, who recently tested positive for the virus, told media in late october that the u.s. would not control the pandemic. according to john hopkins university , the u.s. has seen 9,975,500 total cases of covid-19 and more than 237,000 deaths.
the board includes top doctors and scientists who have served under both republican and democratic presidents as well as members with past experience with the food and drug administration, which ensures vaccine safety protocol is being followed, as well as the world health organization.
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murthy spoke at the democratic national convention in august, decrying the trump’s administration lack of leadership amid the pandemic.
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speaking to yale insights in september, nunez-smith pointed to the disproportionate representation of brown and black people in low-wage frontline jobs. “to get to a place of equitable health outcomes, we have to have hard conversations about access to opportunity,” she said.
one name that stands out on the list of experts is dr. rick bright, who was dismissed from his job as director of the department of health and human services’ biomedical advanced research and development authority by the trump administration in april.
in a statement released after his firing, bright said his transfer to a job in national institutes of health “was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by congress to address the covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit. i am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.”
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i am grateful for the opportunity to serve my country & rejoin the fight against covid-19.
— rick bright (@rickabright) november 9, 2020
with the leadership of president-elect biden & vp-elect harris, & their trust in science, i have no doubt we’ll be able to end the pandemic & save lives.
and remember, #wearamask!
bright filed a whistleblower complaint and resigned from his position at the nih in fall. in an interview with cnn, the doctor did not mince words about the trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
aside from the covid-19 committee, the biden-harris transition team rolled out a seven-point plan to try and beat the rising cases and deaths in the country. parts of the plan includes increasing testing, a mask mandate, using the defense production act to ramp up production of personal protective equipment and planning a way to distribute treatments and vaccines equitably.
