(Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Two days after being named President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden has named more than a dozen members to his coronavirus task force.
Co-chairing are former Food Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale University professor and researcher.
“The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations,” Biden said in a statement issued early Monday morning.
Rounding out the team are Luciana Borio, a biodefense specialist; Rick Bright, a vaccine expert and former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and bioethics chair at the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Atul Gawande, a Clinton administration health advisor and surgery expert; Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert who has studied HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; Dr. Julie Morita, a pediatric and immunization specialist; Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist; Loyce Pace, a global health specialist; Dr. Robert Rodriguez, an emergency medicine expert who has researched mental health of COVID-19 responders; and Dr. Eric Goosby, an infectious disease expert who has worked in AIDS/HIV, according to the Boston Herald.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in the statement.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Monday that it’s coronavirus two-dose vaccine trial was 90% effective in preventing the virus in uninfected people.
More than 1.2 million people have died from the coronavirus pandemic.