Jeffrey Zients to step down as White House COVID Czar

By White House - Press Briefing on Budget Negotiations

Jeff Zients, White House coordinator for the coronavirus response for more than a year, is stepping down after organizing the largest-ever vaccine distribution by the government at the center of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak.

The White House characterized the move as "a new moment" in its efforts to combat the virus, as the president announced Joe Biden would replace Zients with Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health.

Zients, Biden said, was an "excellent manager and a person of service." He added he will miss his counsel and is grateful for what Zients had accomplished with the federal school reopening program, and the distribution of COVID tests.

“Thanks to all the progress we’ve made, Americans are safely moving back to more normal routines, using the effective new tools we have to enable us to reduce severe COVID cases and make workplaces and schools safer,” Biden said. “But our work in combatting COVID is far from done.”

Biden says he is happy to appoint Jha as the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, hailing him as an "outstanding public health expert" with a "wise and calming public presence."

According to Jen Psaki, press secretary for the White House, with out the new funding, fewer monoclonal antibodies will be sent to states, the government will not be able to purchase more tests or treatments, and surveillance for future variants will be limited.

17 March 2022