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President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a three-part plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the first 100 days of his administration. Biden, speaking in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., as he formally unveiled his team of top health officials, emphasized “masking, vaccinations, opening schools. These are the three key goals for my first 100 days.” And the president-elect stressed, “I’m absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.” (Steinhauser, 12/8)

The plan, announced as he introduced the team he has designed to get the pandemic under control, would aim to get at least 100 million Americans vaccinated in his initial 100 days in office, his pledge to sign a face mask mandate on his first day in office and efforts to get kids back to school safely. Biden's plan came the same day that Trump signed a largely symbolic executive order aimed at prioritizing the shipment of the coronavirus vaccine to Americans before other nations. "My first 100 days won't end the Covid-19 virus. I can't promise that," Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware. "But we did not get in this mess quickly, we're not going to get out of it quickly, it's going to take some time. But I'm absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better." (Sullivan, 12/8)

While still a candidate, Biden released a plan in July for resuming in-person classroom instruction during the pandemic that promised to send Congress an emergency funding package to help schools reopen with a price tag worth up to $30 billion. That plan said final decisions on reopening schools would fall to state and local officials but nonetheless promised to enlist federal agencies to establish “basic, objective criteria” for doing so. Those included districts securing necessary funding to reconfigure classrooms for better social distancing, procuring protective equipment and devising plans to accommodate at-risk teachers and students. (Weissert, 12/8)

While California Attorney General Xavier Becerra—reportedly President-elect Joe Biden's pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—is best known on the national landscape for his work defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health industry leaders say he'll have to prioritize the pandemic above all else in the role. In a statement, Rick Pollack, president of the American Hospital Association (AHA), commended Becerra for his efforts to lead the defense of the ACA against a legal challenge from red states and the Trump administration. But the most critical priority remains the pandemic response, he said. (Minemyer, 12/7)

A meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies turned sour Tuesday, when Republican leaders on the typically uncontroversial panel rejected a resolution that would assert that Joe Biden is president-elect. ... The rejected proposal would have prompted the JCCIC to announce that they are preparing for the inauguration of Biden and Harris, in coordination with the Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee and public health experts. (Tully-McManus and McPherson, 12/8)