WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has tapped another two former Obama administration officials to lead his government’s COVID-19 response, according to a new report.
Former surgeon general Vivek Murthy will return to his former role as the top White House doctor while also being the public face of the Biden White House pandemic response, Politico reported Thursday.
Jeffrey Zients, the chief of Obama’s National Economic Council, will serve as the White House’s COVID-19 coordinator, taking over from Dr. Deborah Birx.
Unlike Birx, Zients is not a doctor or public health official, but will be expected to rely on his extensive business experience to work across government agencies to surge testing and rollout the vaccine, the report said.
Biden is continuing to fill out his cabinet after the federal General Services Administration last week announced that President Trump was ready to begin the transition of power.
Murthy, who served as Obama’s personal doctor from 2013 to 2017 before being fired soon after Trump took office, will have a broader portfolio including serving as a top medical expert and public face, the report said.
The 43-year-old UK-born physician had been a candidate to run Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services but ultimately missed out on the role given concerns about his inexperience with managing a large agency.
It’s unclear if any members of Trump’s current coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, will be included in Biden’s new COVID effort.
On Thursday, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was expected to have his first “substantive” talks with the Biden transition team.
As of Saturday, 91,635 Americans were hospitalized with the virus — a record-breaking number as the pandemic continues to worsen.