Washington, Mar 19 (IANS): Xavier Becerra, US President Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and also the former California Attorney General, narrowly won Senate approval for assuming the new role.

The confirmation vote on Thursday was 50-49, with just one Republican Senator, Susan Collins from Maine, joining the Democrats in support, reports Xinhua news agency.

Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono from Hawaii abstained.

Republican Senators opposing Becerra's nomination largely pointed to his support to abortion rights and lack of experience in the public health realm.

But the claims were pushed back by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who offered a counter-argument saying the Republicans confirmed former President Donald Trump's HHS Secretary Alex Azar, "a pharmaceutical executive who raised drug prices and tried to undermine our nation's health law".

A Congressman for 24 years representing Los Angeles' Congressional districts, Becerra will become the first Latino HHS Secretary, leading the department at a crucial time when new surge in coronavirus cases is feared in the US, the worst-hit country in the world.

"I understand the enormous challenges before us and our solemn responsibility to be faithful stewards of an agency that touches almost every aspect of our lives," Becerra said at his nomination hearing in February.

Public health officials and experts have warned that the US will likely experience another spike in coronavirus infections in the March-April period, given both the loosening, outright abandoning, in some cases, of restrictions in many states and the emergence and transmission of possibly more infectious and lethal new virus variants.