Dr. Anthony Fauci, who serves on Trump’s coronavirus task force, will meet President-elect Biden’s team on Thursday.
White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci, will meet with members of President-elect Joe Biden’s team on Thursday after President Donald Trump’s administration delayed the transition process for weeks due to a surge in coronavirus in the United States.
Fauci has already met with the new White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, he said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, but indicated that the meeting will be the first “substantive discussions” that he will with Biden’s team.
Fauci said he would meet her virtually and it would be “the first day that there will be substantive discussions about the transition between me and the Biden team”.
“I’m very excited that we’re having the first discussion today about a number of things, vaccinations and things like that,” said Fauci.
He has become the most prominent member of the White House task force in the months since the pandemic began, and has often argued with Trump over protecting Americans.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the US National Institutes of Health, told CBS that he will stay in his position because he is a government official.
However, Biden has several other important health care roles to play in building his administration.
A prominent candidate to head the Ministry of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already disappeared from the scene. New Mexico Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham received and turned down another cabinet post – home secretary, a person near the Biden junction told The Associated Press on Wednesday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal considerations. Lujan Grisham’s office had no comment.
Biden is expected to announce his election as HHS secretary next week. That person must have “the president’s trust, the ability to work within government, credibility within the health service, and the ability to work with states,” said former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, who served under Republican President George W. Bush.
Rhode Island Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo has become a focal point for the top healthcare profession. Although Raimondo has acted aggressively against the virus, her condition is facing a dangerous wave and is struggling to smooth the curve. Regardless, Raimondo’s business-friendly stance can raise objections from the left of the Democratic Party.
Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo is reportedly seen as Biden’s secretary for health and human services [File: David Goldman/AP Photo]Also in the running is former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, co-chair of Biden’s coronavirus task force. Murthy has a quiet demeanor and a reputation for consensus building. He is the author of a recent book on the human toll on loneliness, an issue that was widely recognized during the time of COVID-19.
He is also reportedly being appointed for the HHS secretary, former U.S. General Surgeon Dr. Vivek Murthy, considered [File: Democratic National Convention via AP]Biden is expected to appoint a senior White House advisor alongside his Minister of Health to coordinate the government’s comprehensive response to coronavirus. Vaccines developed under the Trump administration are being shipped to Biden’s Watch, a huge corporation that will be tied to its logistical problems. Democratic health policy experts say the lead contestant is businessman Jeff Zients, an Obama White House economic adviser who has been widely credited with saving HealthCare.gov after his disastrous start in 2013.
Biden is said to remain focused on the virus and is close to appointing a commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For the FDA, former Deputy Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, who also served as the Maryland Secretary of Health, and Dr. Luciana Borio, a member of Biden’s Coronavirus Advisory Board, who previously held senior positions with the FDA and the National Security Council and has experience in disease outbreak response and bio-terrorism.
As CDC director, Dr. Julie Morita is considered an executive with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit who works on a wide range of health issues. Morita served in leadership positions with the Chicago Health Department for nearly 20 years, rising from medical director to commissioner.
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