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.“dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and i will be informed by science and by experts,” biden said in the statement.“the advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”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.the three co-chairs of the committee are dr. david kessler, dr. vivek murthy and dr. marcella nunez-smith.kessler is professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics at university of california san francisco. he served as fda commissioner from 1990 to 1997, under presidents george h.w. bush and bill clinton.murthy served as u.s. surgeon general from 2014 to 2017 and is a former vice admiral of the public health service commissioned corps where he oversaw 6,600 public health officers globally.murthy
spoke at the democratic national convention in august, decrying the trump’s administration lack of leadership amid the pandemic.“we need a leader who works with states to ensure that everyone who needs a test gets one and gets results quickly, a leader who secures a safe, effective vaccine and distributes it quickly and fairly, a leader who inspires us to practice distancing and wear masks, not as a political statement but as a patriotic duty, a commitment we make to one another,” he said.nunez-smith focuses on health and healthcare equity and is an associate professor of internal medicine, public health, and management at yale university and the associate dean for health equity research at the yale school of medicine.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.“we need equitable access to high-quality healthcare. and every word in that sentence matters.”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.bright, an immunologist, virologist and former who advisor, pushed back at trump’s cheerleading of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug the president touted as a possible covid-19 treatment.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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