Andrew M. Slavitt is an American businessman and healthcare advisor who served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration. A leader of the team that helped to repair the healthcare.gov website after its initial rollout, he was nominated by Barack Obama to run CMS in July 2015. In January 2021, Slavitt accepted a temporary role as Senior Pandemic Advisor to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response team. He stepped down from that role in June 2021.
The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) is a United States governmental office that coordinates an ambitious whole-of-government approach to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Initiative collaborates with the Deputy Assistant to the President and AA and NHPI Senior Liaison, White House Office of Public Engagement and designated federal departments and agencies to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPIs in the areas of economic development, education, health and human services, housing, environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment, transportation, justice, veterans affairs, and community development.
The federal government of the United States initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with various declarations of emergency, some of which led to travel and entry restrictions and the formation of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As the pandemic progressed in the U.S. and globally, the U.S. government began issuing recommendations regarding the response by state and local governments, as well as social distancing measures and workplace hazard controls. State governments played a primary role in adopting policies to address the pandemic. Following the closure of most businesses throughout a number of U.S. states, President Donald Trump announced the mobilization of the National Guard in the most affected areas.
Marcella Nunez-Smith is an American physician-scientist. She is C.N.H Long Professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, where she serves as the inaugural Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center. She also holds joint appointments at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Management. After co-chairing the Biden-Harris transition's COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021, she was selected by President Joe Biden to serve as Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team and Chair of the Presidential COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
Julie Morita is an American public health expert serving as the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. Prior to her position, she served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Loyce Pace is an American public health official expert serving as the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Global Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. She was executive director of the Global Health Council and member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. Pace specializes in public health policy and global health equity, working to promote equitable access to health care around the world.
The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.
Cecilia Martinez is the senior director for environmental justice at the Council on Environmental Quality and co-founder and executive director of the Center for Earth, Energy, and Democracy. In 2020, she was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People, nominated by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker for her work in environmental justice and climate policy. On September 5, 2020, she was announced as a member of the Advisory Board of United States President-elect Joe Biden.
Executive Order 13985, officially titled Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, is the first executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. It directs the federal government to revise agency policies to account for racial inequities in their implementation.
The social policy of the Joe Biden administration is intended to improve racial equity, increase access to safe and legal abortions, tighten restrictions on gun sales, among other aims. A number of policies aim to reverse the former policies of President Donald Trump, including the "Muslim" travel ban and loosened anti-discriminatory policies relating to LGBT people.
The White House COVID-19 Response Team was the task force during the presidency of Joe Biden to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. It was set up by President Joe Biden on his first day in office – January 20, 2021 – and replaced President Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force and President Biden's transitional COVID-19 Advisory Board.
Joneigh Khaldun is the Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at CVS Health. Prior to serving in this position, she served as the Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. On February 10, 2021, she was announced as a member of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force under the Biden-Harris administration.
A presidential task force or White House task force is a board of advisors appointed by the president of the United States whose main purpose is to enact policies in relation to responding to either national emergencies, crises, or general policy initiatives. Presidential task force members are part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States who don't require United States Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president. This is granted by the Constitution of the United States under Article Two, Section Two, Clause One, stating, "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices."
Executive Order 13987, officially titled Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified and Effective Response to Combat COVID-19 and to Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security, is the third executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. The order indicates that the federal government will respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a more coordinated manner and that federal rules will be published in the near future.
Executive Order 13994, officially titled Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats, is the tenth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order indicates that it is vital to ensure that there is a more analytical approach to dealing with COVID-19 public health threats.
Executive Order 13996, officially titled Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats, was signed on January 21, 2021, and is the twelfth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order indicates that the United States should assemble the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and guarantee a sustainable public health workforce to fight against the COVID-19 virus and other biological threats.
Executive Order 13992, officially titled Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation, was signed on January 20, 2021, and is the eighth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order works to withdraw certain federal regulation executive orders from the previous Trump administration.
Executive Order 13997, officially titled Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19, was signed on January 21, 2021, and is the thirteenth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order works to ameliorate and increase access to COVID-19 care and treatment.
The Biden administration COVID-19 action plan, also called the Path out of the Pandemic, is a substantial increase in the use of vaccination mandates as part of the U.S. federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic announced by President Joe Biden on September 9, 2021, to be carried out by officials in the Biden administration. The plan included various announced prospective efforts, as well as the issuance of several executive orders.
