Dr. Anthony Fauci to Meet with Joe Biden’s Transition Team

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, is set to meet virtually with former Vice President Joe Biden’s transition team Thursday to discuss the U.S. coronavirus response.

Fauci told CBS News’s The Takeout podcast that he had spoken to Ron Klain, Biden’s pick for chief-of-staff but that those discussions were not “substantive.”

The top infectious disease doctor said he would be meeting Biden officials over Zoom about “a number of things, vaccinations and things like that.”

Fauci, who became the head of the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 1984, said the presidential transition was important, so the incoming administration is ready to go on day one.

“Having served six administrations, I’ve been through five transitions, and I know that transitions are really important if you want to get a smooth handing over of the responsibility,” Fauci said.

Fauci has a tense relationship with President Donald Trump and is frequently targeted by his allies. He said he wished the transition to the Biden administration occurred sooner.

It had been delayed because the General Services Administration was waiting to see how Trump’s legal challenges in contested states and certification of election results played out.

“I would have liked to have seen us getting involved with the team as early as we possibly can because we want the smooth transition to occur,” Fauci said. “Everyone believes that a smooth transition is certainly better than no transition.”