(CNNN) -
United States President-elect Joe Biden told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday that he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to be chief medical adviser and part of his covid-19 response team when he begins his administration. next year.
Biden said the conversation happened Thursday afternoon.
CNN reported earlier in the day that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, had a planned meeting with Biden's transition team.
"I asked him to stay in exactly the same position that he has held during the terms of past presidents, and I asked him to also be a chief medical adviser to me and to be part of the covid team," Biden told Tapper as part of the first joint interview with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Biden added that Ron Klain, his new White House secretary general, knew Fauci well and had been talking to him "the whole time."
Fauci has had a complicated relationship with Trump since he began advising the Republican leader on the response to the coronavirus, and the president often disobeys the recommendations of Fauci and other health leaders.
Those clashes have brought Fauci into the public spotlight, often seen as a hero on the left for his commitment to science in the face of Trump's comments and a villain on the right, especially among those loyal to Trump.
Biden described his plans for the coronavirus as a balance between ensuring Americans believe the vaccine is safe and instituting a series of plans that will slow the spread of the virus without shutting down the economy.
Biden said that on his inauguration day he plans to ask the public to wear a mask for at least 100 days.
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«Only 100 days to wear masks, not forever.
Hundred days.
And I think we will see a significant reduction.
Biden said.
Biden also said during the interview that he will be "happy" to receive a coronavirus vaccine once Fauci says it is safe and that he will receive the vaccine publicly to show his confidence in her.
"That is the time when I will appear before the public" and receive the vaccine, Biden said.
'People have lost faith in the vaccine's ability to work.
The numbers are staggeringly low already, and what the president and vice president do is important. "
Biden's comments come a day after three of his presidential predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said they would publicly receive the coronavirus vaccine as a way to demonstrate its safety and efficacy.
"I think my three predecessors have set the blueprint for what to do, saying that once it's declared safe ... then we obviously accept it and it's important to communicate with the American people," Biden said.
Anthony Fauci
