The Guardian
Biden picks California attorney general to lead US's post-Trump Covid response
* Latino Xavier Becerra, 62, nominated as health secretary * Health agency plans mammoth effort to vaccinate AmericansPresident-elect Joe Biden announced key members of his health team Monday, with California attorney general Xavier Becerra, a prominent defender of the Affordable Care Act, to lead the administration’s coronavirus response as health secretary.If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans.Becerra would take the reins as the health agency struggles to handle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including record infections and a daily death toll that has exceeded 2,000 in recent days, and prepares a mammoth effort to vaccinate Americans against the virus. More than 282,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.“This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced – getting the pandemic under control so that the American people can get back to work, back to their lives, and back to their loved ones,” Biden said in a statement.With emergency use authorization for at least one vaccine expected imminently in the United States, health officials will be confronted with a major set of challenges as they embark on one of the most ambitious public health endeavors in its history, to safely and effectively roll out multiple coronavirus vaccines.Becerra was expected to lead the way in acquiring sufficient doses to vaccinate the population, persuading vaccine skeptics to be immunized, tracking first and second rounds of vaccine doses for each patient where needed, handling insurance coverage and cost issues and responding to any safety concerns.“Biden is living up to his commitment to make the Cabinet a reflection of diversity,” said Robert Garcia, mayor of Long Beach, California, and a longtime ally of Becerra and Biden.Other appointments announced Monday included Dr Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, a key role in communicating health policy. Murthy previously held the role under Barack Obama and was the first surgeon general of Indian descent.Biden tapped Dr Rochelle Walensky, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts general hospital and a Harvard professor, as director of the centers for disease control and prevention. Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of epidemiology at the Yale school of medicine, was named chair of a task force to promote equity in efforts to prevent, treat and vaccinate against Covid-19.Dr Anthony Fauci, whose was largely sidelined by Donald Trump, was to remain chair of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases while taking up a new role as chief medical adviser to the president on Covid-19.Jeffrey Zients, a former budget director and economic adviser to Obama, was named coordinator of the Covid-19 response team, with former White House and Pentagon senior advisor Natalie Quillian as his deputy.“This is a team that looks like America and brings together leaders with deep experience in public health, government, and crisis management,” the Biden campaign said in a statement. “They are experts in their fields who will restore public trust in the pandemic response by leading with facts, science, integrity, and a laser-focus on bringing Covid-19 under control.”As California’s attorney general, Becerra has led the coalition of Democratic states defending “Obamacare” from the Trump administration’s latest effort to overturn it, a legal case awaiting a supreme court decision next year.A former senior House Democrat, Becerra played a role in steering the Obama health law through Congress in 2009 and 2010. At the time he told reporters that one of the primary motivations for him was having tens of thousands of uninsured people in his southern California district.Overseeing the coronavirus response will be the most complicated task Becerra has ever contemplated. By next year, the US will be engaged in a mass vaccination campaign, the groundwork for which has been laid under the Trump administration. As California’s attorney general, Becerra jokingly became known in Democratic legal circles as the man who sued Trump more than anyone else. Beyond health care, the lawsuits centered on issues from immigration to environmental policies.His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and emigrated to the US after marrying his father.Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
"company" - Google News
December 07, 2020 at 09:37PM
https://ift.tt/3gxCc3D
Our Company of the Year is a good investment, even a year later - Yahoo Money
"company" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33ZInFA
https://ift.tt/3fk35XJ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Our Company of the Year is a good investment, even a year later - Yahoo Money"
Post a Comment