The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition.

[5] Biden pledged a more and larger federal government response to the pandemic than Donald Trump, akin to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression.

[6] This would include increased testing for SARS-CoV-2, a steady supply of personal protective equipment, distributing a vaccine and securing money from Congress for schools and hospitals under the aegis of a national "supply chain commander" who would coordinate the logistics of manufacturing and distributing protective gear and test kits.

[6] Biden also pledged to invoke the Defense Production Act more aggressively than Trump in order to build up supplies, as well as the mobilization of up to 100,000 Americans for a "public health jobs corps" of contact tracers to help track and prevent outbreaks.

[6] Jeffrey Zients will work with the advisory board as the incoming White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator (czar).