Washington — President-elect Joe Biden will formally announce Tuesday the key members of his health team, who will play crucial roles as the nation confronts a spike in coronavirus infections and prepares for distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr. Biden is poised to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to helm the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Dr. Vivek Murthy, who currently co-chairs the president-elect’s coronavirus advisory board, to serve as U.S. surgeon general. Rochelle Walensky has been selected as Mr. Biden’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tasked with addressing the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, another co-chair of the president-elect’s coronavirus advisory board, was tapped as the COVID-19 Equity Task Force co-chair. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was selected to be Mr. Biden’s chief medical adviser on the coronavirus. Jeff Zients will be counselor to the president and COVID-19 response coordinator, and Natalie Quillian was selected as deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response.
How to watch Joe Biden introduce his health team
- What: President-elect Joe Biden introduces nominees and appointees to his health team Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2020Time: 1:40 p.m. ETLocation: Wilmington, DelawareOnline stream: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device
As with Mr. Biden’s other future nominees, Becerra would make history if confirmed by the Senate, becoming the first Latino Health and Human Services secretary. While he has no medical training, Becerra has been a leading advocate for the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Biden plans to expand once he’s in office. Becerra also served in Congress for more than two decades.
Mr. Biden’s health team will move into their roles as a coronavirus vaccine is being given to broader swaths of the population. Vaccines developed by Pfizer, with Germany’s BioNTech, and Moderna are awaiting emergency use authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration, and the first batch of vaccinations is expected to roll out to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities once the green-light is given, likely in mid-December.
A key challenge for the nominees and appointees will be building public trust in a coronavirus vaccine and persuading Americans to get vaccinated. A Gallup poll conducted from November 16 to November 29 found that 63% of Americans said they would be willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine approved by the FDA, an increase from 58% at the end of October. The surge in Americans who said in November they would be willing to receive a vaccine still trails behind the 66% who said they would be willing to do so in July.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton all said they would get the vaccine on camera to raise public trust, as would Fauci when it is his turn to receive it, he said.
Mr. Biden has so far announced key members of his national security, foreign policy and economic teams, and he is set to unveil his pick to lead the Defense Department, expected to be retired Army General Lloyd Austin, this week.