Biden Announces Coronavirus Task Force, Including Former Trump Admin Whistleblower

As President Trump continues to push back against the assertion that he has lost the 2020 election, former Vice President Joe Biden is moving ahead with plans to transition into the presidency with haste.

At the top of Biden’s list of concerns is the coronavirus pandemic that has smothered our nation for months upon months at this point, announcing on Monday his own task force to tackle the subject.

President-elect Joe Biden unveiled Monday members of his COVID-19 advisory board and it includes Rick Bright, a former Trump administration whistleblower who resigned amid allegations his early warnings over the pandemic were ignored.

The task force, a group of public health experts – almost all doctors – will offer guidance to Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their coronavirus staff as they prepare to take over the presidency. The board’s composition could be an indicator of the Biden administration’s intent to follow a more science-based coronavirus approach.

“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement on his transition website. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”

There was one notable name on the task force that has Republican ears perking up.

Bright was demoted from his role as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority after criticizing the Trump administration’s pandemic response. He resigned and then filed a lengthy whistleblower complaint claiming he tried to raise internal concerns about the administration’s handling of the outbreak, including President Donald Trump’s championing of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, as a COVID-19 treatment despite the fact that its efficacy had not been determined.

Biden made the announcement from Delaware early in the week, while awaiting the Trump administration’s approval of key transition funds for the likely-incoming Biden-Harris team.