 Welcome to Monday’s Overnight Health Care. President-elect Joe Biden announced key health care picks today, including his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The White House is holding a "vaccine summit" Tuesday without the vaccine companies, and administration officials said they did not turn down an opportunity to purchase additional doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. We'll start with the transition: Biden unveils health team with Becerra, Murthy, Walensky in top roles President-elect Joe Biden officially unveiled his health team early Monday, naming California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) as secretary of Health and Human Services. Vivek Murthy was selected to return to his role as surgeon general, and Rochelle Walensky was picked as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Biden also announced that Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, will remain as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The top health officials will be responsible for guiding the country through the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected tens of millions of people across the globe, killed more than 280,000 Americans and ravaged the economy. Biden similarly announced members of his intended national security and economic teams in recent weeks. Becerra and Murthy will each need to be confirmed by the Senate. “This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced — getting the pandemic under control so that the American people can get back to work, back to their lives, and back to their loved ones,” Biden said in a statement. Read more here.
Trump officials deny turning down additional doses of Pfizer COVID vaccine Trump administration officials denied that they passed on an opportunity to purchase additional doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine earlier this summer. The administration's Operation Warp Speed signed a nearly $2 billion contract with Pfizer and its partner BioNTech in July for the rights to 100 million doses. The money is payable upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses, following authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. The contract gave the administration the ability to acquire up to an additional 500 million doses. According to The New York Times, the administration declined when offered the opportunity to purchase the additional doses. But an administration official said nobody turned down additional Pfizer doses — and even if they were offered, the U.S. was essentially not going to gamble further on an unproven vaccine. "Anyone who wanted to sell a guarantee, without an EUA [emergency use authorization] approval, hundreds of millions of doses back in July and August, was just not going to get the government's money," the official said. The official said the U.S. has contracts with five other companies for a combined guarantee of 3 billion doses, as well as the option for more. Read more here. Fauci: Christmas could be worse than Thanksgiving for COVID-19 spread Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said Monday that Christmas could be worse than Thanksgiving for COVID-19 spread in the U.S. “My concerns... are the same thing of the concerns that I had about Thanksgiving, only this may be even more compounded because it’s a longer holiday,” he said on CNN's “New Day.” Fauci noted that Thanksgiving celebrations tend to be shorter as people return to work the following week, but Christmas leads into New Year’s. “I think it can be even more of a challenge than what we saw with Thanksgiving,” Fauci said. “So I hope that people realize that and understand that as difficult as this is, nobody wants to modify, if not, essentially shut down, their holiday season.” “But we’re at a very critical time in this country right now,” he added. “We’ve got to not walk away from the facts and the data. This is tough going for all of us.” Read more here. Hawley urged Trump to veto coronavirus deal without direct payments Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Monday said he urged President Trump to veto any coronavirus agreement that doesn't include another round of direct payments to Americans. "I'm continuing to be flummoxed as to why there aren't any direct payments. Everybody supported this in March. It's the most useful, helpful and frankly popular aspect. So I told him that, and ... I encouraged him to veto it," Hawley said about his conversation with Trump, which took place over the weekend as the president was traveling back from Georgia. Hawley, viewed as a potential 2024 presidential contender, said he spoke with the president to tell Trump that he was planning to oppose any coronavirus agreement that didn't include another round of direct payments. "I just said in general ... that I really thought a direct payment to individuals and working families needed to be part of the package. I said that I had said publicly, and I wanted him to hear it directly from me, that unless there were direct assistance included in the bill, whatever bill it may be, that I wouldn't be able to support it," Hawley said. Where things stand: Neither of the two proposals currently being circulated — a GOP-only measure from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a proposal from a bipartisan group of senators — includes a second round of direct payments. The bipartisan proposal would include a $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit for 18 weeks. Read more here. | 
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