PROVIDENCE – Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee, who is expected to become governor this month, on Wednesday announced a team of advisers on COVID-19, who will advise his administration on the pandemic response, including efforts to vaccinate Rhode Islanders and reduce infections.
The committee includes a number of municipal leaders, as well as community health professionals. McKee, in a statement, said he wants to make sure the deployment of vaccines to communities in Rhode Island proceeds smoothly.
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“Our transition is laser-focused on the COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout,” he said. “That’s how we will ensure Rhode Island comes out of this crisis stronger than when we went in.”
McKee, a former state representative and mayor, named Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena as co-chairman of his Transition COVID-19 Advisory Group, as well as Dr. John Stoukides, a board-certified physician in internal medicine, Hospice and palliative care, who has been overseeing the vaccine program for the state’s CharterCare hospitals.
The advisory group is among several in the state now tasked with advising state officials on COVID-19 strategy. The R.I. Department of Health has an advisory group on COVID-19. The R.I. House also has a COVID-19 committee.
According to the news release, sent by the McKee transition office, the COVID-19 Transition Advisory Group will work closely with the existing state COVID-19 response team, appointed by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, and its members will be integrated later into the RIDOH advisory committees.
The members of McKee’s advisory group are:
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and a recognized authority on pandemics and the pandemic response; Hemi Tewarson, former director of the health division for the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices; Dr. Mike Magee, a former vice president for global medical affairs for Pfizer Inc.; Dr. John Morton, an obstetrician-gynecologist and chief of gynecology at Landmark Medical Center; Maj. Gen. Christopher Callahan, commander of the Rhode Island National Guard; Narragansett Town Manager James R. Tierney; Michael Nina, a community health worker at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island; Barrington Town Manager James J. Cunha; Dola Adesina, a community nurse; Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi; Lynne Urbani, policy director for the R.I. House; R.I. state Sen. Bridget Valverde, who represents East Greenwich and other communities; Jamie Hainsworth, Jamestown town administrator; Robert Walsh, executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island; Channavy Chhay, executive director of the Center for Southeast Asians; Joseph Andriole, president of the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters; East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva; and M. Teresa Paiva Weed, president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
Let’s hope Mr. McKee doesn’t play politics with the vaccines like Raimondo by giving ACI INMATES and housing residents vaccinations instead of the most vulnerable frail elderly in nursing homes and tax paying residents throughout the state! It has nothing to do with the past White House Administration that started providing vaccines to RI in December, each Governor was given the unilateral authority on distribution! Take responsibility for your actions!