Biden's Covid team pledges to fight disproportionate impact on minorities

US President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board pledged to address the outsized impact of the pandemic on minorities in a meeting with the US Hispanic community, the transition team said in a statement Wednesday.

"Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board Co-chair Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith and board member Dr. Robert Rodriguez met with Latino and immigrant workers and providers to hear directly from individuals who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis," the release said.

The meeting emphasized a commitment by the Biden administration "to addressing the disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in communities of colour," the release added.

The roundtable also focused on challenges for front-line pandemic workers, support for families and increased hospitalization rates for COVID-19 victims, according to the release.

Successful late-state trials of coronavirus vaccines have prompted public health officials to speculate that the pandemic will begin to wind down with the anticipated inoculations of hundreds of millions of people as early as the summer of 2019.