Currently, about half of the Swiss population is fully vaccinated with the highly effective vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna. After the Federal Council announced the “normalization phase” at its media conference on August 11, 2021, the organization of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force is also adapting.
Together with the transition into the “normalization phase” on August 11, 2021, Prof. Tanja Stadler will take up her new role as President of the Science Task Force. Tanja Stadler is a subject matter expert in biostatistics at ETH Zurich in Basel. As head of the Task Force Expert Group Data and Modelling, she made fundamental contributions to the better understanding of SARS CoV-2 and its spread. Martin Ackermann, previous Task Force President, will continue to contribute his expertise and experience as an active panel member.
Strengthening in Mental Health and Pediatrics
The Science Task Force is also adapting its composition, reducing the size of the expert panel to 25 members. However, all of the disciplines that have been central to pandemic response remain represented. To address the specific challenges and issues of the coming phase, the Task Force is bringing in two new experts in Mental Health and Pediatrics.