Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the Trump administration had abandoned a “vague” plan for the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, as he defended the claim of Vice President Kamala Harris that President Biden’s team should start “from scratch ‘when he took office.
Harris claimed Axios on HBO last Sunday night, and the knowledgeable infectious diseases were questioned about the comment this week during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
Anchor Chris Wallace asked, “Is that true?”
‘The only thing we can say is that the infrastructure and the ability to distribute the vaccines in the arms of people was really vague, as I said before. I mean, of course, it was not that anything was done, because we developed the vaccine, we manufactured it and it was sent, ‘Fauci said.
He said critics should give Harris a break because she did not mean ‘from scratch’.
‘I mean, of course, even before the end of the year, we had vaccinations that we gave to people. So what she was referring to, and I’m sure you can ask her again that she would say it was the process of getting it smoothly into people’s arms, which was difficult, very early, we’re just getting right now, ”Fauci continues .
Since taking office, Fauci has said that Biden is trying to expand the distribution of the vaccine by getting it at community centers, pharmacies and mobile units, as well as engaging health workers to get the shots into people’s arms.
“I believe the vice president is referring to the fact that if you are talking about the things I just mentioned, it was not in place when the president came in after the inauguration,” Fauci said.
In his remarks Friday at a Pfizer manufacturing site in Michigan, Biden also pointed the finger at his predecessor.
“Just over four weeks ago, America had no plans to vaccinate most of the country. My predecessor – as my mother would say: ‘God loves him’ – does not succeed in ordering enough vaccines, does not succeed in making the effort to administer the shots, and does not succeed in setting up vaccination centers does not direct. “It changed the moment we took office,” he said.