President-elect Joe Biden has set up a 13-member coronavirus advisory board will play a high-profile role in helping the Biden-Harris administration contain the coronavirus pandemic in the US as it enters its deadliest phase so far.
“Failure is not an option here,” Dr Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a member of the advisory board, told the Guardian. “We have to do whatever we can to reduce the impact of the virus on our society.”
The high-powered board, which includes a former US surgeon general, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, leading virologists and experts in bio-defense and the health of marginalized populations, is an about-face from the Trump administration.
The Biden campaign laid out a multi-pronged plan for dealing with the virus, including:
- shared guidance on reopening from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
- an enormous expansion of testing and production of protective equipment;
- an expansion of health insurance benefits;
- a multi-pronged, logistically challenging, vaccination campaign to provide free shots;
- hiring 100,000 new public health workers;
- and lobbying for coronavirus economic relief.