WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden‘s transition group has been briefed on America’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Division of Well being and Human Companies Secretary Alex Azar advised reporters Tuesday.
Azar mentioned that on Monday night Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz, the official main the transition planning effort, briefed the Biden group on Operation Warp Velocity, which goals to get a coronavirus vaccine to the general public in report time.
“We’re instantly getting them all the pre-prepared transition briefing supplies,” Azar advised reporters Tuesday.
“We’ll guarantee coordinated briefings with them to make sure they’re getting no matter data that they really feel they want,” Azar mentioned, including that the “transition planning and execution will likely be skilled, cooperative and collaborative.”
The Biden transition group didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
The transfer ends weeks of delays within the formal handover of energy from President Donald Trump to the Biden administration within the wake of the U.S. presidential election. Trump has not conceded the election to Biden.
The most recent revelation comes because the U.S. grapples with a dramatic resurgence of coronavirus circumstances as main holidays strategy. Up to now, the U.S. has recorded at the least 257,991 Covid-19 associated deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The Trump administration has been criticized for not doing sufficient to manage the unfold of the lethal illness.
Final week, Pfizer and its associate BioNTech applied for an emergency use authorization from the Meals and Drug Administration for his or her Covid-19 vaccine. The FDA course of is anticipated to take a number of weeks, and an advisory committee assembly to assessment the vaccine has been scheduled for early December.
Pfizer announced on July 22 that the U.S. agreed to purchase 100 million doses of its vaccine for as much as $1.95 billion. The settlement, which is a part of Operation Warp Velocity, permits the U.S. to amass a further 500 million vaccine doses.
