Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the Trump administration left an “inaccurate” plan for the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, as he defended claims by Vice President Kamala Harris that President Biden’s team should “start from scratch “when he took office.
Harris claimed “Axios on HBO” last Sunday evening and the infectious disease expert was asked about that observation 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 plan the distribution of vaccines in people’s arms was really quite vague, as I said before. I mean, obviously nothing was done because we developed the vaccine, we made them and they were sent, ”said Fauci.
He said critics should give Harris “a break” because he didn’t “mean from scratch.”
“I mean, obviously, we had vaccines that we gave to people, even before the end of the year. So what did he mean and I’m sure you can ask him again that he will say that it was the process of putting it smoothly in people’s arms, that it was a difficulty, very soon, we are only overcoming it well now, “Fauci continued.
Since taking office, Fauci said Biden has been trying to expand the distribution of the vaccine by getting it to community centers, pharmacies and mobile units, as well as hiring health workers to get the shots in people’s arms. .
“I think the vice president was referring to the fact that if you’re talking about these things that I just mentioned, they weren’t in place when the president came in after the inauguration,” Fauci said.
In his statements Friday at a Pfizer manufacturing center in Michigan, Biden also pointed to his predecessor.
“Just over four weeks ago, the United States had no real plan to vaccinate most of the country. My predecessor, as my mother would say, “God loves you,” couldn’t order enough vaccines, didn’t mobilize the effort to administer the shots, couldn’t create vaccine centers. That changed the moment we took office, ”he said.