“We weren’t that great at treating flu—it should not be our model for covid”: America’s covid-19 tsar speaks

Taking office in November 2021, US President Joe Biden was immediately confronted by the chaotic nature of his country’s reaction to covid-19. One of his first actions was to appoint a “covid-19 tsar”—someone who would oversee the response in a joined up manner, from testing and surveillance to access to vaccines and treatments to on-the-ground responses from doctors.Jeff Zients was first appointed and when he moved to become Biden’s chief of staff the president chose Ashish Jha, a long time public health expert and one of the loudest voices during the pandemic, to fill the role.Jha was in the post for 15 months, until the duties were absorbed into other parts of government. His tenure saw the US exit the state of emergency for covid-19 and face an mpox epidemic that has affected over 30 000 Americans to date, as well as the crucial organisation of medium and long term…
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