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This story is part of a series of articles looking at the health policy challenges the Biden administration will face.
As President-elect Joe Biden has filled out his healthcare team in recent weeks, many familiar faces have emerged. Several picks for top roles and advisers worked with him in President Barack Obama s administration. Others have long histories of government service.
A few key roles require confirmation by the Senate. But with Democrats now having control of the chamber, albeit just barely, those votes are expected to go Biden s way.
Many officials will be focused solely on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Biden has named as his top priority. They will be tasked with the nationwide vaccine distribution and easing continuing supply chain disruptions for health equipment, all while infections and deaths remain at record-high levels.
First published on
This story is part of a series of articles looking at the health policy challenges the Biden administration will face.
As President-elect Joe Biden has filled out his healthcare team in recent weeks, many familiar faces have emerged. Several picks for top roles and advisers worked with him in President Barack Obama s administration. Others have long histories of government service.
A few key roles require confirmation by the Senate. But with Democrats now having control of the chamber, albeit just barely, those votes are expected to go Biden s way.
Many officials will be focused exclusively on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Biden has named as his top priority. They will be tasked with the smoothing out nationwide vaccine distribution and easing ongoing supply chain disruptions for health equipment critical challenges as coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths remain at record-high levels.
The Wall Street has a new exclusive story about the incoming head of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, and her plans to greatly increase vaccination rates and restore faith in the agency.
Dr. Walensky has an impressive background: the recent head of infectious diseases at Mass General, one of the top teaching hospitals in the US, where she was also a member of state advisory panels on Covid policy. Some questioned her elevation due to her lack of public health or CDC experience. Walensky said she was surprised to get the nod and assumed her outsider status was a big reason why.
President Joe Biden has selected Dr. Rachel Levine, a pediatrician, as his Assistant Secretary of Health, marking history as the first and highest-ranking openly transgender federal official to be formally sworn in by the U.S. Senate.