During his victory speech on Saturday night, President-Elect Joe Biden told the nation, “On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on Jan. 20, 2021. That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern. I will spare no effort –or commitment — to turn this pandemic around.”
This morning, he followed through. NBC News reported:
Biden took his first steps Monday with the announcement of a Covid-19 task force, led by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University professor Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. After the transition website launched Sunday, it received 3 million views within just 15 hours. The most visited page: Biden’s plan for Covid-19.
The full list of members on the 13-member panel is online, and as the transition team noted, it’s comprised of a group of doctors and scientists who have “served in previous administrations and have experience engaging with and leading our country’s response to nationwide and worldwide public health crises.”
At face value, this may seem obvious and perfunctory, but it already represents a shift from the status quo. The list of advisory board members, for example, does not include any members of Joe Biden’s family. You’ll also find no television personalities lacking any relevant skills or experience.
What’s more, let’s not brush past the fact that the advisory panel includes Dr. Rick Bright, who, up until recently, served as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response and director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The scientist has alleged, however, that he was ousted for resisting the White House’s political agenda on the coronavirus pandemic.









