The White House’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, reversed his earlier rejection of claims that the Biden administration was “starting from scratch” with the launch of the coronavirus vaccine.
On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris revived the claim during an interview with Axios.
“There was no stock … of vaccines,” Harris told Axios co-founder Mike Allen. “There was no national vaccination strategy or plan. We were leaving it up to states and local leaders to try to find out. And in many ways, we are starting from scratch on something that has been going on for almost an entire year! “
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Despite contradicting his own observations last month, Fauci not only defended the vice president, but also criticized the Trump administration’s vaccine launch when asked about his comments on Tuesday.
“What I think the vice president is referring to is that the real plan to put doses of the vaccine in people’s arms was very vague. I mean, it was not a well-coordinated plan.” Fauci told CNN.
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“Receiving [the] vaccines made, sending them through Operation Warp Speed was OK, but I believe what the vice president is referring to is: ‘What is the process for actually putting these doses on people?’ “Fauci explained. Much more organized, with the mobilization of community vaccination posts, the mobilization of pharmacies, the mobilization of mobile units. So that is what I believe she was referring to.”
Fauci, who previously served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force under President Trump, took a drastically different tone last month after CNN quoted anonymous Biden officials who claimed the new government was “starting from scratch” with vaccine launch.
“We are certainly not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution,” Fauci said firmly during a press conference at the White House on January 21.
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While the famous fact-checkers at The Washington Post and CNN refrained from contesting Harris’s comments, Axios herself appeared to undo the verification of a tweet that was removed after juxtaposing the vice president’s comments with those of Fauci.
Axios also did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment.