The Story:
The President elect, Joseph Biden, has named the three individuals who will coordinate Covid vaccine testing and supply chain strategies beginning with his inauguration on January 20. These names come as the incoming administration criticizes its precursors’ handling of the logistics of such matters in the days since the first tested vaccines became available.
Three Names:
The coordinators will be: Bechara Choucair; Â Carole Johnson; and Tim Manning.
Choucair is a family physician, former public health commissioner for the city of Chicago, and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente. He will be the point person in dealing with the state and local authorities on behalf of the federal government’s efforts.
Johnson is the Commissioner of the Human Services Department of the State of New Jersey. She will be tasked with expanding tests in schools, nursing homes, and other critical settings.
Manning, who was the deputy administrator of FEMA in the Obama-Biden years, now an advisor to the Pacific Disaster Center, will alleviate and avoid further shortages in protective equipment and tests.
In Pill Form:
All three of the newly named coordinators will report to Jeff Zients, who will be reporting on all Covid matters directly to President Biden. As Zients said recently, the new administration will also need help from Congress, “to provide the resources so we can reopen schools, ramp up testing, and make sure that we administer the vaccines.”
