Biden Picks Former F.D.A. Chief to Lead Federal Vaccine Efforts

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has chosen Dr. David Kessler to help lead Operation Warp Speed, the program to accelerate development of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, according to transition officials.

Dr. Kessler, a pediatrician and lawyer who headed the Food and Drug Administration during the presidencies of George Bush and Bill Clinton, has been a key adviser to Mr. Biden on Covid-19 policy and is co-chair of the transition team’s Covid-19 task force.

He will replace Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a researcher and former drug company executive, who will become a consultant to Operation Warp Speed. Dr. Kessler will share top responsibilities for the initiative with Gen. Gustave F. Perna, who will continue as chief operating officer, according to a Biden transition spokesman. Dr. Kessler’s responsibilities will cover manufacturing, distribution and the safety and efficacy of vaccines and therapeutics.

“Dr. Kessler became a trusted adviser to the Biden campaign and to President-elect Biden at the beginning of the pandemic, and has probably briefed Biden 50 or 60 times since March,” said Anita Dunn, co-chair of the transition team. “When staff gets asked, ‘What do the doctors say?,’ we know that David Kessler is one of the doctors that President-elect Biden expects us to have consulted.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/health/covid-vaccine-kessler.html

[Squinch]

1. That will help a lot.

[AllyCat]

2. I am so encouraged by the picks Biden has made for Cabinet and other positions!

We will recover from this madness with him and Harris at the helm.

[Indykatie]

3. So Biden Has Had 50 or 60 COVID Briefings with Kessler? The Man is a Work Horse.