"As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I will build on our progress and ensure every American has access to quality, affordable healthcare — through this pandemic and beyond," he tweeted today.
Biden's selection of Becerra and Walensky was announced in a press release from the transition office. People familiar with the decision had confirmed the picks yesterday. Biden also announced other top members of his healthcare team, though some posts remain unfilled.
Becerra, as California's top lawyer, has led the coalition of Democratic states defending "Obamacare" from the Trump Administration's latest effort to overturn it, a legal case awaiting a Supreme Court decision next year.
As a US representative, he was involved in steering the Obama health law through Congress in 2009 and 2010.
Businessman Jeff Zients was named as Biden's White House coronavirus coordinator. An economic adviser to former President Barack Obama, Zients also led the rescue of the HealthCare.gov website after its disastrous launch in 2013.
Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a co-chair of Biden's coronavirus task force, is returning to his post as the nation's doctor, with broader responsibilities.
Biden announced Fauci will be the president's chief medical adviser, while continuing as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Adding to the group are national security expert Natalie Quillian as co-director of the coronavirus response and Yale public health specialist Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith, who will head a new working group to reduce health disparities in Covid-19, a disease that has taken a deeper toll among minorities.
The core components of HHS are the boots on the ground of the government's coronavirus response. The Food and Drug Administration oversees vaccines and treatments, while much of the underlying scientific and medical research comes from NIH.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention takes the lead in detecting and containing the spread of diseases. The Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, provides insurance coverage for millions of Americans, including the elderly, as well as many children and low-income people.
Biden still has not picked the heads of FDA and CMS.
Under President Donald Trump, CDC was relegated to a lesser role after agency scientists issued a stark early warning that contradicted Trump's assurances the virus was under control, rattling financial markets.
The FDA was the target of repeated attacks from a president who suspected its scientists were politically motivated and who also wanted them to rubber-stamp unproven treatments.
As CDC director, Walensky would replace Dr Robert Redfield, who accurately told the public coronavirus vaccines would not be available for most people until next year, only to be disparaged by Trump as "confused."
Walensky is a leading infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and has devoted her career to combatting HIV/Aids.
"I'm honoured to be called to lead the brilliant team at the CDC," she tweeted today. "We are ready to combat this virus with science and facts."
Becerra's mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and emigrated to the US after marrying his father, a native of Sacramento, California, who had grown up in Mexico.
Becerra often cites his parents as his inspiration, saying they instilled in him a strong work ethic and a desire for advancement. His father worked road construction jobs, while his mother was a clerical employee. Becerra is married to Dr Carolina Reyes, a physician who specialises in maternal and fetal health.
In an AP profile published last year, a lifelong friend of Becerra's said he learned to stay calm and self-controlled in high school as a varsity golfer and an exceptional poker player. Becerra studied the advice of famous golfers while practicing with a set of used clubs costing less than US$100.
- AP
