Ezra Klein takes us inside Biden's Covid-19 plan.
It's a helluva job, being responsible for the rollout of a mass vaccination and testing campaign that, if it succeeds, could save hundreds of thousands of lives and, if it fails, could cost them. But that's weight Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Biden's nominee for surgeon general and co-chair of his coronavirus task force, now bears. I (virtually) sat down with Murthy this week for the first episode of my new podcast, "The Ezra Klein Show." |
What I wanted to do in our conversation was go through every element of the Biden administration's planned response: How they'll roll out the vaccines we have. How they'll approach the vaccines that have yet to be approved, like Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. What they want to do that we're not already doing on testing, masking, contact tracing. What the plans are for the more contagious strains that are taking hold. |
Murthy revealed much more than I could possibly summarize here, so listen to the episode and subscribe when you get a chance. But I wanted to draw out a few of his most illuminating answers. |
When I asked him whether supply is more constrained than we thought — which is something governors and mayors have been claiming, as the federal government misses promised shipments — he seemed reasonably confident that wasn't going to be the problem. "The concern about supply will start to ease more as the weeks progress because the companies will ramp up their ability to produce vaccine," he said. |
Murthy seemed more worried about the number of people who can give the vaccine and funding than of doses, at least in the short term. When I asked why vaccination sites weren't running 24/7, he said cash-strapped states need funding the federal government hasn't provided. But the "pool of vaccinators" was becoming a problem, one that the Biden administration thinks it can ameliorate by directly deploying federal personnel and "enabling people like retired nurses and retired doctors to come into the work force and to help deliver that vaccine." |
One of the most encouraging things I heard came when I asked Murthy if he thought the Food and Drug Administration has been too cautious when approving at-home testing solutions. "I do think we've been too conservative," he said. If the Biden administration could push the F.D.A. to open up to cheap at-home testing, that could be a game changer for the remainder of this pandemic. |
It's a rich discussion — we also talked about how to improve masking, the consequences of social isolation, legislative strategy, how the new strains change the trade-offs we need to make, and much more — and I hope you'll give the whole episode a listen. There was something enormously comforting simply hearing how seriously the Biden team is taking the scale of the challenge here. They understand full well that vaccines do not deliver themselves, and that far more than just vaccination will be needed to survive the coming months. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
Join The New York Times T Book Club, which focuses on classic works of American literature, for a conversation on Edith Wharton's classic "The Custom of the Country." On Jan. 28, watch a virtual discussion of the book, featuring the novelist Claire Messud in conversation with T features director Thessaly La Force, that will address questions from readers. R.S.V.P. at no cost to attend. |
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