David Kessler, a key member of President Joe Biden's COVID-response team, will be leaving the administration, multiple media outlets reported Friday.
Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, will exit the government next week to return to teaching at the University of California, San Francisco, Bloomberg reported. He has been on leave from the school and advising Biden since before his inauguration.
As the administration's pandemic response has lessened — it’s working to shift vaccination from a government-run effort to one handled by the private sector — Kessler joins Dr. Anthony Fauci in being early Biden COVID team members to depart.
"Six hundred sixty-five million vaccines, 13 million antivirals," Kessler told The New York Times on Friday, referring to the number of doses that Americans have taken since December 2020, shortly before Biden took office.
"We did what we set out to do."
Fauci said that Kessler's medical background and analytical approach helped during interactions between the health department and pharmaceutical companies in developing monoclonal antibodies and assessing the availability of vaccines, Bloomberg reported.
"I know his style; he knows my style," Fauci said. "We're very easy with each other. Calling him up in the middle of the night is not something that you worry about,” he said.
Unlike Fauci, Kessler remained mostly behind the scenes.
"He understands all the issues very well, and he’s got a lot of experience, It’s been a pure pleasure working with him," said Fauci, who retired at the end of last year as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
A physician and lawyer by training, Kessler spearheaded much of the early efforts to secure COVID treatments and vaccines.
"Whether he was leading our effort to develop and distribute safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, or sharing his perspective during daily strategy sessions and data deliberations, Dr. Kessler’s contributions to our Covid-19 response have helped save lives,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement, Bloomberg reported.
Kessler also served as Biden's personal COVID-19 adviser, trying to prevent the president from contracting the virus. The chief executive eventually caught COVID-19 last summer and recovered without requiring hospitalization.
Then-President George H. W. Bush appointed Kessler to be head of the FDA in December 1990. He served in the role through 1997, and was known for taking on the tobacco companies.
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