- The White House and Amazon confirmed to Politico that they are in negotiations on the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Amazon offered to help the Biden government with its vaccination plans last month.
- Many technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Airbnb, have made similar offers.
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The Biden administration is studying how it can take advantage of Amazon’s vast infrastructure to help with the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
A White House spokesman confirmed to Politico that the government is in talks with the technology giant. “We are consulting with many companies, including Amazon, on specific ways to help execute the president’s national strategy against COVID,” said the spokesman.
“Companies with logistics and technical expertise could help Americans get vaccinated more efficiently and fairly,” he added.
An Amazon spokesman told Politico that he was “committed to helping governments with vaccination efforts as we work together to protect our workers and continue to provide essential services during the pandemic.”
Amazon was not immediately available to comment on exactly which aspects of the vaccine distribution it is discussing with management.
Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s consumer company, wrote an open letter to Biden in January offering Amazon help.
“We are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology and communication skills and experience to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts,” wrote Clark.
The company also opened a pop-up vaccination clinic in its hometown, Seattle, which aims to administer 2,000 vaccines through a partnership with Virginia Mason Medical Center.
Other technology companies offered their services to the U.S. government: the Airbnb CEO also sent an open letter to the Biden government in January saying the company could help establish “vaccine deposits”.
Google announced in January that it would convert some of its workspaces to vaccination sites, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview in December that he had contacted the then-new Biden government to ask how the company could help in the response to coronavirus.
Axel Springer, the parent company of Insider Inc., is an investor in Airbnb.