Health Equity Task Force Urges Biden-Harris Transition Team to Prioritize Racial Equity in Pandemic Response and Recovery Efforts

On December 15, 2020, members of the Health Equity Task Force for Delivery and Payment Transformation, a Families USA coalition of national and state health equity leaders, submitted a letter to the Biden-Harris COVID-19 Task Force. The letter urges the incoming administration to prioritize racial equity in pandemic response and recovery efforts. Advancing racial equity is essential to responding to the current crises and ought to be the cornerstone of the COVID-19, economic recovery, and climate change pillars of the Build Back Better plan.

Specifically, the Health Equity Task Force urges the Biden-Harris Transition Team to elevate the following recommendations:

• Confront systemic racism and oppression in health and health care.
• Implement a nationally coordinated, public health approach that addresses equity and includes the community-based workforce.
• Prioritize equity in the allocation, distribution, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
• Equip states, territories, and localities with sufficient financial support to prevent cuts to programs and services that are essential to ensuring equitable community recovery from COVID-19.
• Ensure equitable access to affordable health coverage for all families.
• Invest in the social and economic drivers of health.