Health team offers glimpse of new strategy

United States President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for his healthcare team point to a stronger federal role in the nation’s Covid-19 strategy, restoration of a guiding stress on science and an emphasis on equitable distribution of vaccines.

With the announcement of California Attorney-General Xavier Becerra as his health secretary and other key appointments, Biden aims to leave behind the personality dramas that sometimes flourished under President Donald Trump.

He hopes to return the federal response to a more methodical approach, seeking results by applying scientific knowledge. What Biden has at present is a collection of players drafted for key positions. By announcing most of the key positions in one package, Biden is signalling that he expects them to work together, and not as lords of their own bureaucratic fiefdoms.

The selection of Becerra and businessman Jeff Zients as White House coronavirus coordinator point to a more assertive federal coronavirus role. Zients has made a name for himself rescuing government programmes that went off course. Becerra has managed an office bigger than some state governments.

Biden’s selection of infectious disease expert Dr Rochelle Walensky to head the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the elevation of Dr Anthony Fauci to medical adviser, and the return of Dr Vivek Murthy as surgeon-general are being read as a restoration of science in public health emergencies. His pick of Yale University’s Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith is being read as a sign that his administration will work for equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments among racial and ethnic minorities.