Biden Picks Xavier Becerra to Lead HHS, Coronavirus Response

The Associated Press reports that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has selected California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and oversee the government's coronavirus response. Biden also picked Rochelle Walensky, a Harvard University infectious disease expert, to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Becerra, if confirmed by the Senate, will be the first Latino to head HHS, and as California's AG has spearheaded the coalition of Democratic states defending the Affordable Care Act from the Trump administration's latest attempt to rescind it. With the United States expected to be engaged in a mass COVID-19 vaccination push next year, it is impossible to determine yet how things will go when it is time to get inoculations. Meanwhile, businessman Jeff Zients was appointed Biden's White House coronavirus coordinator and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will return to that post, with a wider range of responsibilities. Moreover, Biden said Anthony Fauci will be his chief medical adviser, and keep his position as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' director. Rounding out Biden's team will be Natalie Quillian as co-director of the coronavirus response and Yale public health specialist Marcella Nunez-Smith as lead of a new task force to reduce health disparities in COVID-19.