Accountable Pharma: Announced Biden Health Team “Breath of Fresh Air,” Strong Indication that Patients Will Be Prioritized Over Drug Companies

Washington, DC – Today, Accountable Pharma released the following statement on the announcement of key members of President-elect Biden’s health team, including the nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the naming of Rochelle Walensky, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Becerra and Walensky join Dr. Anthony Fauci, who will serve as Chief Medical Adviser to the President on COVID-19, Dr. Vivek Murthy, nominated to serve as Surgeon General, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, to serve as the COVID-19 Equity Task Force Chair, and Jeff Zients and Natalie Quillian to help lead the COVID-19 Response Team.

“President-elect Biden’s announcement of a health team made up of experts and patient advocates is a breath of fresh air after years of a Trump Administration that continually put drug companies, special interest groups, and politics ahead of patients and public health,” said Eli Zupnick, spokesman for Accountable Pharma. “While President Trump’s current Secretary of Health and Human Services was plucked from a drug company and failed to take his former industry on in any meaningful way, Attorney General Becerra has been fighting Big Pharma and taking on the Trump Administration’s attempts to eliminate protections for patients with pre-existing conditions. And while President Trump has politicized public health and ignored his government’s career scientists, President-elect Biden’s embrace of experts like Dr. Fauci and announcement of Rochelle Walensky as the new leader of the CDC are strong and comforting indications that he plans to bring science and expertise back into our government’s public health efforts.”

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