The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he will meet with members of the Biden transition for the first time on Thursday.

“I’m going to be meeting with them today, by Zoom, by virtually. So today will be the first day where there will be substantive discussions about the transition between me and the Biden team,” Fauci told CBS News’s Major Garrett on the Takeout Podcast. “I’m very pleased that today we’re having the first discussion about a number of things, vaccinations and things like that.”

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Fauci also said he wished the transition process had started sooner.

“I would have liked to have seen us getting involved with the team as early as we possibly can because we want the smooth transition to occur. Everyone believes that a smooth transition is certainly better than no transition,” he said.

Fauci hasn’t spoken directly with President-elect Biden but he has had “substantive” discussion with incoming chief of staff Ron Klain.

This as the country set a new record for the number of deaths and hospitalizations from COVID in a single day on Wednesday.