Joe Biden has selected a new White House Covid-19 response coordinator to help lead the US’s fight against the virus, the US president announced on Thursday.
Dr Ashish Jha has been named as the new response coordinator. Jha, who is the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, is a well-known public health expert.
In 2014, Jha co-chaired an international investigative commission that looked into the failures of the global response to the Ebola outbreak.
“Jha is one of the leading public health experts in America, and a well-known figure to many Americans from his wise and calming presence,” Biden said in a written statement.
“As we enter a new moment in the pandemic – executing on my national Covid-19 preparedness plan and managing the ongoing risks from Covid – Dr Jha is the perfect person for the job,” he added.
Jha will be replacing Jeff Zients, the current White House Covid-19 response coordinator.
Biden praised Zients, calling him “a man of service and an expert manager”.
When Biden first appointed Zients 14 months ago, less than 1% of Americans were fully vaccinated, fewer than half of schools across the country were open and the US lacked any at-home Covid tests.
Today, nearly 80% of adults are fully vaccinated, over 100 million are boosted, nearly every school is open and hundreds of millions of at-home tests are distributed every month, the president said.
“The progress that [Zients] and his team have made is stunning and, even more important, consequential. Lives have been saved.
“I will miss his counsel and I’m grateful for his service,” Biden added.
