/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fc2c4869a065f0bc368c1dc/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=3000&cropY1=99&cropY2=1787&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Biden Creates Diverse Covid-19 Advisory Board To Contrast With Trump")
Topline
President-Elect Joe Biden on Saturday announced three new additions to his coronavirus advisory board who contrast with the current White House coronavirus task force in their medical backgrounds and diversity.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – NOVEMBER 09: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris … [+]
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Key Facts
Trump’s coronavirus task force primarily consists of political appointees, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and is 81% white men.
The preliminary members of the Biden transition’s coronavirus advisory board announced earlier this month were primarily disease experts and medical professionals, and the list was far more saturated with women and people of color.
The board is chaired by former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. David Kessler, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Yale University dean Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of internal medicine and a health equity researcher.
The new board-members include Jane Hopkins, a nurse who specializes in mental health and a leader of several nurses unions who immigrated to the U.S. from Sierra Leone in 2000.
Also added to the board in Jill Jim, the executive director of the Navajo Nation Department of Health whose leadership, the transition said in a statement, “has been essential to the Covid-19 response on the Navajo Nation.”
The final addition is David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University who served as an OSHA administrator in the Obama administration and an assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration.
Surprising Fact
Among the members of Biden’s board are two former Trump administration officials, including Rick Bright, who was ousted as the federal government’s vaccine chief in April. Bright alleged he was pushed out over his criticism of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven coronavirus treatment touted by Trump.
Big Number
68%. That’s the share of registered voters who said in a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday that controlling the spread of coronavirus should be “a top priority” for Biden in his first 100 days. 67% said a Covid-19 vaccine plan and a coronavirus aid package should be a top priority, while 64% said stimulating the economy should be.
What To Watch For
Biden has said he plans to keep on Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease experts and the most popular face of the federal government’s coronavirus response. Fauci, likewise, told McClatchy he expects to stay in his role but said he would “seriously consider” a cabinet position.
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