Fauci: 'It Would Be Better' If Government Health Officials Could Start Working With Incoming Biden-Harris Administration

“Of course it would be better if we could start working with them,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if being able to work with Biden’s team would be best for the public health of Americans.

“As you know, I’ve been through multiple transitions now, having served six presidents for 36 years. And it’s very clear that the transition process that we go through … is really important in a smooth handing over of the information as well as it’s almost like passing the baton in a race,” Fauci said. “You don’t want to stop and then give it to somebody, you want to essentially keep going.”

The presidential transition process has not officially started because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election. While Biden’s coronavirus team has been reaching out to states and the medical community to hit the ground running once he is inaugurated in January, the transition team does not have access to the administration’s Covid-19 data and vaccine distribution plans.

The formal transition is likely to remain on hold until the election is certified by a Trump appointee within the General Services Administration in a process known as ascertainment.

The US soared to a record daily high of more than 184,000 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, marking the worst day of the pandemic to date. Fauci said Sunday that it has been “several months” since Trump met with the White House coronavirus task force, which is headed by Vice President Mike Pence.

The doctor also praised Biden’s selection of Ron Klain as White House chief of staff as “an excellent choice.” Fauci noted that he worked with Klain during the Obama administration when Klain was tasked with coordinating the administration’s response to the Ebola crisis.

“I worked very closely with Ron Klain during the Ebola outbreak,” he said. “He was absolutely terrific at the Ebola situation where we had a very successful ultimate endgame with Ebola.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.

CNN’s Sarah Westwood and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.