Biden’s task force: How different would it be from Trump’s task force

Biden on Monday will announce a 12-member task force to deal with the pandemic, reported Reuters.

As United States became the first nation worldwide to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections ever since the pandemic began, US President- elect Joe Biden has made tackling coronavirus his immediate priority. Biden on Monday will announce a 12-member task force to deal with the pandemic, reported Reuters.

President- elect Joe Biden will announce a 12-member task force to deal with the pandemic, reported Reuters, which will be his first plan of action after winning the presidency. (Reuters)

Why is addressing coronavirus Biden’s topmost priority?

Throughout the election campaign, Biden criticised President Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Wearing of masks and lockdown also became partisan issues with Trump choosing a lax approach with respect to the pandemic. Democrats also cornered the Trump administration on the stimulus bill in the Senate. Thus, it was expected that the first order of business for Biden would be action on coronavirus. In his victory speech in Wilmington, Biden said, “I will spare no effort - or commitment - to turn this pandemic around.”

What would the coronavirus task force do?

The coronavirus task force will be charged with developing a blueprint for containing the disease once Biden takes office in January. But there is a White House coronavirus task force in place which was established on January 29 and is headed by Vice president Mike Pence. Deborah Birx has been the response coordinator of the taskforce and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci is one of the key members.

Who could be the members of the taskforce?

A top Biden aide announced the two co-chairs of the incoming administration’s task force to be: Indian American Vivek Murthy, the former US surgeon general, and David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Though it has not been officially announced but Reuters reported that Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale physician and professor whose research focuses on health disparities, is widely expected to serve as the task force’s third co-chair.

How is Biden’s approach different from Trump?

Both Murthy and Kessler are widely known in public health and science. Kessler was appointed in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, and served into the second term of President Clinton, leaving the agency in 1997 to become the dean of the Yale School of Medicine. Murthy, himself a Yale medical school graduate, was appointed US surgeon general under President Obama in 2014. Trump also has Dr Anthony Fauci on his task force but he has publicly criticized Fauci, even threatening to fire him. During the campaign, Trump continued to politicise the wearing of masks, lockdown restrictions and social distancing norms that were set in various states. Biden, on the other hand, insisted on the importance of experts and urged people to “listen to science, public health professionals”. The official site of the Biden- Harris campaign charts out a seven point plan that will focus on increasing testing, availability of personal protective equipments, helping small businesses impacted by the pandemic, protecting people who are at ‘high risk’ and implementing nationwide mask mandates.