Opinion: To truly beat Covid, Biden must fill these jobs
The United States has made great strides in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. But we can blow it all up, both short and long term, if the Biden administration fails to quickly take this key position in the FDA and prioritize stable leadership across the NIH to create a unified national approach. capable of both crisis response and routine public health preparedness.
Therefore, filling the leadership gaps to help establish a clear vision and ensure institutional stability will not go far. Protecting public health requires a multi-agency and multi-sector response. Federal government coordination is essential, but best practices, policies and resources to support them must extend to state and local governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations.
Loud dissent will always exist on the fringes. The vast common ground of this country will listen and do what is necessary when called upon to act and when given clear and reliable direction. Most of us can save all of us.
But only if this nation can pull itself together, take on key leadership positions and create a structure for those leaders to take public health action in a coordinated manner. Anything less risks falling short of the challenge of responding to acute crises and tackling the historically entrenched structural, social and economic conditions that hold so many of us back.