(Headline USA) Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving him poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to his current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making him one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide.
He won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement. “She (sic) is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”
A graduate of Harvard and of Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
He’s written in the past on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.
Biden and his transition team have already begun negotiating with members of Congress, promoting speedy passage of the president-elect’s $1.9 trillion plan to bring the coronavirus under control.
It seeks to enlist federal emergency personnel to run mass vaccination centers and provide 100 immunization shots in his administration’s first 100 days while using government spending to stimulate the pandemic-hammered economy,
Biden also says that, in one of his first acts as president, he’ll ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days to slow the virus’ spread.
But in November Levine told Pennsylvanians that they should be prepared to wear masks through the end of 2021.
His department also notified people potentially exposed to COVID-19 that they must remain quarantined and not leave their homes on Election Day last year.
In April the Pennsylvania Department of Health was discovered to be fudging their COVID-19 death statistics, including “probable” cases in their count.
And in September a federal judge ruled that the massive lockdowns imposed by Levine and Gov. Tom Wolf were unconstitutional.
Levine joins Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary nominee Xavier Becerra, who rose from humble beginnings to serve in Congress and as California’s attorney general.
Businessman Jeff Zients is Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, while Biden picked infectious-disease specialist Rochelle Walensky to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vivek Murthy as surgeon general and Yale epidemiologist Marcella Nunez-Smith to head a working group to ensure fair and equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.
The government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, will also work closely with the Biden administration.
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
