Senate confirms Vivek Murthy as surgeon general
Source: Washington Post
The Senate on Tuesday voted 57 to 43 to confirm Vivek H. Murthy as United States surgeon general, ensuring that a top ally of President Biden will play a visible role in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. All 50 Senate Democrats and Independents voted to support Murthy, joined by seven Republicans.
The surgeon general, also known as the “nation’s doctor,” typically serves as a prominent spokesperson on public health issues but has a limited role in policymaking. But Biden has pledged that Murthy — who advised him in the Obama White House, on the board of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware and, most recently, during the presidential campaign and transition — will have an expanded role in his administration.
“He will be a key public voice on the covid response to restore public trust and faith in science and medicine,” Biden said when he nominated Murthy in December. “One of the reasons doc, I asked you to do this, when you speak, people listen. They trust you. You have a way of communicating.” The surgeon general also oversees the U.S. Public Health Service commissioned corps, a uniformed service of about 6,000 public health workers who have helped staff the coronavirus response and administer vaccines but struggled earlier this year to get vaccinations of their own.
Murthy, 43, first served as surgeon general during the Obama administration, working on public health issues such as the opioid crisis. He also pursued his own work combating loneliness and the stigma of mental illness. He was the nation’s first Asian American surgeon general. His original 2013 nomination was stalled in the Senate for about a year, in part because gun rights organizations faulted Murthy for saying gun violence was a public health problem — a stance Murthy has continued to espouse.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/23/murthy-surgeon-general/
Well since he was in that position before, he "knows the place". PHS folks are stationed throughout the various HHS agencies and are one of the uniformed services (following the Naval ranks system).
Definitely need a robust PHS to help in handling the pandemic. They seemed to have been MIA in all the discussions about it.
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