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As the White House struggles to address the pandemic and other pressing health matters, a public tug-of-war has emerged over who should be tapped to run the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 2/8)

President Biden will soon have to nominate someone to helm the Food and Drug Administration. His two top contenders couldn’t have more divergent visions for how to lead that agency. (Florko, 2/9)

The Senate on Monday confirmed Denis McDonough as President Biden’s Veterans Affairs secretary, choosing a non-veteran but a manager with years of government service to lead the sprawling health and benefits agency. McDonough, 51, was chief of staff during Barack Obama’s second term and held senior roles on the National Security Council and on Capitol Hill before that. He told senators at his confirmation hearing that although he is not a veteran, his long career as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter and policymaker would serve him well at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a massive bureaucracy beset by multiple challenges. (Rein, 2/8)

DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is quarantining for the next 14 days after a member of his security detail tested positive for Covid-19.According to a press statement by DOT chief of staff Laura Schiller, the agent had been in close contact with Buttigieg, “including this morning prior to the agent’s positive result." (Snyder, 2/8)

Andy Slavitt spent the first 10 months of the coronavirus pandemic as a private citizen. During that time he created the popular “In the Bubble” podcast about the virus and used it to raise money for relief efforts. But three weeks ago, the former Medicare and Medicaid chief became senior adviser to President Biden’s coronavirus response team, making him a key player in the federal government’s vaccine rollout as U.S. deaths near half a million. (Winfield Cunningham and Ellerbeck, 2/8)

The Biden administration has sent conflicting signals about when and how to expect schools to reopen, with the White House at times appearing to downplay messaging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). White House press secretary Jen Psaki has sought to minimize the scope of a CDC study that identified schools as low-transmission zones for the coronavirus and has brushed back CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for saying that the science supports the notion that teachers can return to classrooms before they’ve been vaccinated. (Easley and Parnes, 2/8)