Mounting an effective response to COVID was one of presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s campaign promises, and now that he has won the US elections, he is seeking to implement this response as soon as possible.
This comes at a critical time, as the US has been struggling with record new cases, breaking 100 000 per day in the last few days, with sombre predictions of another 100 000 deaths by January, stoked by the advent of winter and people socialising for the festive season. Biden has begun assembling a science-focussed team to prepare to take on managing the COVID pandemic as soon as he takes office.
Numerous challenges will face Biden’s team when he assumes office. One of them is the extreme distrust that has emerged as a result of the politicisation of the virus.
Angela Rasmussen, a virus researcher at Columbia University in New York, said: “The past year of misinformation, confusion and gaslighting from the White House has really left people without any trust that our government is capable of handling this. It’s going to be critical to begin communicating that, yes, this administration will be led by the science.”
Some believe that, unfortunately, that it is a case off too little, too late, and that attitudes cannot be so easily changed. Kris Mathews, the administrator of Decatur Health, a small hospital in rural Kansas, said, “I think the damage is done. People have made up their minds about how they react to it.”
Biden has also promised to have the US rejoin the World Health Organization on the first day of his presidency. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, said: “Everyone recognises that for a pandemic, you cannot have a country-by-country approach. You need a global approach.” She expressed optimism that the US under Biden would join the global Covax scheme led by the WHO to distribute the vaccine to the needy.
Source: Medical Xpress
