President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced the group of public health experts that will make up his coronavirus advisory board, which includes Rick Bright, a whistleblower from the Trump administration who alleged that his early warnings about the pandemic were ignored and ultimately led to his removal.
The inclusion of Bright, who said that he was met with skepticism by Trump administration officials when he raised concerns in the early throes of the pandemic about critical supplies shortages, is a clear signal of the contrasted direction that Biden intends to take his administration when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.
Revealing the members of the pandemic task force is the transition’s first major announcement, highlighting how important the President-elect finds combating the deadly virus which has taken more than 230,000 lives in the United States. The announcement also comes as the nation nears 10 million cases, with over 9.9 million reported cases as of Sunday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The task force is chaired by:
- Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
- Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler
- Yale University’s Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith
Among the other thirteen members are:
- Dr. Luciana Borio, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations
- Dr. Zeke Emanuel, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act and an ex-Obama health adviser.