The White House will disband its COVID-19 response team after the national and public health emergencies end May 11, multiple current and former officials told The Washington Post.
The COVID-19 response team was created in early 2020 and most recently led by Ashish Jha, MD. The move to disband the team comes after President Joe Biden's administration informed Congress in January that it would allow the public health emergency to expire — a sign of an end to the pandemic's crisis era.
"As a result of this administration's historic response to COVID-19, we as a nation are in a safer, better place than we were three years ago," a senior administration official said in a statement to The Washington Post. "COVID no longer disrupts our lives because of investments and our efforts to mitigate its worst impacts. COVID is not over, fighting it remains an administration priority, and transitioning out of the emergency phase is the natural evolution of the COVID response."
The newspaper reports that Dr. Jha, whose appointment by President Biden began in April 2022, is likely to leave the administration once the team is disbanded. Dr. Jha has taken a short-term leave from his position as dean of Brown University's School of Public Health in Providence, R.I., for the assignment.