Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients leaving White House

Jeff Zients, President Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, might be leaving the White House after 14 months on the job as instances of COVID-19 proceed to say no throughout the nation. 

The president introduced Zients’ departure in a Thursday assertion, praising him as “a man of service and an expert manager.”

“When Jeff took this job, less than 1 [percent] of Americans were fully vaccinated; fewer than half our schools were open; and unlike much of the developed world, America lacked any at-home COVID tests,” Biden mentioned. 

“Today, almost 80 [percent] of adults are fully vaccinated; over 100 million are boosted; virtually every school is open; and hundreds of millions of at-home tests are distributed every month,” the president went on. “In addition, the US leads the global effort to fight COVID, delivering more free vaccines to other countries than every other nation on Earth. The progress that he and his team have made is stunning and even more important consequential. Lives have been saved.”

The 55-year-old Zients, a former company govt who served as head of the National Economic Council through the Obama administration, might be changed by Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s college of public well being, who has been a fixture in media protection of the pandemic over the previous two years.

“Dr. Jha is one of the leading public health experts in America, and a well-known figure to many Americans from his wise and calming public presence,” Biden mentioned. “And as we enter a new moment in the pandemic … Dr. Jha is the perfect person for the job.”

While COVID-19 restrictions, akin to masks necessities and social distancing, are being lifted throughout the US, Biden emphasised Thursday that “our work in combating COVID is far from done.”

“We must continue the effort to provide more vaccines and boosters,” he mentioned. “We must get a vaccine approved for the youngest children. We must continue to improve how our schools and workplaces cope with COVID. We must take special care to protect the vulnerable from COVID, even as many restrictions are lifted. We need to provide tests, and treatments, and masks. We must fight the virus overseas, prepare for new waves, and new variants — all of which can be coming. And we must work with Congress to fund these vital steps, as time is running out to stay ahead of the virus.”

In latest months, the Biden administration got here underneath scrutiny for what critics described as its gradual response to a surge in COVID-19 instances attributable to the Omicron variant. In January, 5 key Democratic senators wrote to Zients demanding to know “why the Administration failed to take more significant steps earlier to increase access to at-home tests” in time for the vacation case spike.

The Omicron wave has since abated, with the seven-day common of latest COVID-19 instances standing at 30,934 as of Tuesday, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the bottom stage since mid-July of final 12 months.