Biden’s health picks signal a more aggressive approach fighting Covid-19

Becerra was a surprise pick for HHS secretary but has contacts on Capitol Hill that could help Mr Biden, writes Washington Bureau Chief John T. Bennett

Joe Biden’s health team shows major changes are ahead in the federal government’s approach to combating Covid-19 — but Congress will be a major hurdle for the incoming team.

Most notably, the president-elect has namned California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a 62-year-old former Democratic congressman, to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He also is retaining Anthony Fauci as the federal government’s top infectious disease official and elevating him to the chief adviser to the president on Covid-19.

Mr Becerra on 20 January will inherit from Alex Azar the task of leading the complicated logistical effort of crafting and executing a national plan to ship and distribute coronavirus vaccines.

His coming nomination signals a change in Washington. With contacts and relationships with senior lawmakers, Mr Biden can tap his HHS secretary, if he is confirmed by the Senate, to assuage members’ Covid-related concerns and help push the massive economic stimulus bill his team already is crafting.

The same is true of his decision to bring Mr Fauci into his inner circle. Without a doubt, half the country will applaud the move and the pro-Donald Trump half will be skeptical.

Mr Biden has vowed to “follow the science” in making coronavirus decisions, and Mr Fauci’s inclusion on his team is a nod in that direction. The infectious disease expert also has tried making a case that slowing the latest spread of the virus does not requiring another national lockdown.

The president-elect mirrored his soon-to-be chief Covid medical adviser’s language last week during an interview with CNN.

“You have to make sure, as he (Fauci) points out, you don't have to close down the economy, like a lot of folks are talking about now, if, in fact, you have clear guidance, and you're able to say to businesses, ‘OK, for example, bars and restaurants are going to close, but we're going to provide you the wherewithal to not lose your business.’”

“We're going to be able to reopen in time, and not to close down for long periods of time,” Mr Biden said. “We talked about masking. It is important that we, in fact, the president and the vice president, we set the pattern by wearing masks.”

But the media-frequenting Mr Fauci’s appointment to the new role will present challenges for Mr Biden. For instance, just last week the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director was forced to apologise and clarify comments he made about the UK being the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine.

Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality," Mr Fauci told the BBC. "I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way."

His routine misstatements could complicate Mr Biden’s efforts to convince more Americans to cover their faces during his first 100 days in office.

Mr Fauci will be tasked with working hand-in-hand with Jeff Zients, National Economic Council director under the Obama administration.

Mr Biden selected Mr Zients due to his experience overseeing tough health care problems, including initiatives related to the implementation of the 2011 Affordable Care Act. Biden aides claim that will help him oversee ongoing work on vaccines, Mr Biden’s national mask plea, and helping state and local officials determine how best to get the inoculation, as he put it last week, “out of a container, into an injection syringe, into somebody's arm.”

Mr Trump has never fully embraced the roles of uniter- or health official-in-chief. In fact, Mr Biden increasingly is becoming the leading voice on on a more aggressive federal effort. He also is working to de-politicise Covid-related matters, including the need to don face coverings, as recently as Friday saying mask-wearing should not be a political issue that further divides red and blue America.

There is no evidence Mr Trump is not about to alter course on his way out of office. After all, he needs his anti-mask base of conservative Americans to both continue pouring millions into his post-presidency coffers and stand by him should he decide to run again in 2024.

That’s why he jetted to Georgia on Saturday night for a campaign rally ostensibly meant to boost two embattled GOP senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, in their 5 January runoff races.

As always, Mr Trump spent most of his time on stage complaining about his loss to Mr Biden and uttering false statement after false statement, as well as unsupported allegation after unsupported allegation.

The Georgia rally and almost all of his public statements and tweets since the election collectively show the remainder of his term will continue to be about his so-called “legal fight,” which appears mostly about raising hundreds of millions of dollars before he takes residence at his South Florida resort permanently.

That leaves Mr Biden to fill the void. His top health advisers will help determine whether 2021 is the year the country moves beyond the coronavirus – or becomes paraylzed and more divided by it.

While Democrats are hailing his health picks, one former Clinton White House official says Mr Biden needs even more brainpower focused on the virus.

“A commission investigating the pandemic should look at the entire operation. For instance, it should start with the health-related agencies of the federal government and how to improve their intergovernmental coordination and capacity,” according to Elaine Kamarck, who led then-President Bill Clinton’s “re-inventing government initiative.”

“It should look at what happens to front-line workers in a pandemic when they, like the police and first responders in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, become victims,” she added. “It should look at how to modernize laws like the Defense Production Act in order to make sure that medical supplies can be produced in time for mass testing and vaccination. And it should evaluate the massive efforts to distribute everything from PPE to the vaccine itself.”