Biden is inheriting a nonexistent Covid-19 vaccine plan from the Trump administration, sources say

Biden is inheriting a nonexistent Covid-19 vaccine plan from the Trump administration, sources say

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The Biden government has promised to try to reverse the Covid-19 pandemic and dramatically accelerate the rate at which Americans vaccinate against the virus. But in the immediate hours after Biden was sworn in on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new government’s Covid-related work told CNN that one of the biggest shocks Biden’s team had to digest during the transition period was what they considered a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under former President Donald Trump, even weeks after several vaccines were approved for use in the United States.

“There is nothing for us to redo. We will have to build everything from scratch ”, said a source.

Another source described the moment when it became clear that the Biden government would essentially have to start from “square one” because there was simply no plan like, “Wow, just another statement of complete incompetence.”

The next White House now faces intense pressure to deliver on promises Biden made during the campaign and the transition phase to dramatically reverse the pandemic and behave entirely differently from Trump when it comes to the distribution of the virus and vaccine.

Prior to Inauguration Day, some of Biden’s Covid-19 advisers wanted to be careful not to publicly criticize the Trump administration’s handling of the virus and vaccine, as the Biden transition team was already having trouble getting critical information and cooperation from the outgoing administration, the source said.

Now that the power transition has taken place, the Biden government hopes to be able to quickly begin to get a clearer picture of where things really are with vaccine distribution and administration across the country, going through a kind of “fact-checking exercise. “about what exactly the Trump administration did and did not do, they added.

CNN previously reported that the Biden team’s most pressing concerns about Covid-19 include potential problems with vaccine delivery, coordination between federal and local governments, as well as funding, staff and other resource needs for local governments. This is in addition to the emerging variants of Covid, which the new White House – in consultation with scientists and experts – is watching with caution.

Biden made it clear that slowing down the spread of Covid-19 and putting 100 million vaccines in the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office are top priority – goals that will define whether Biden’s early years in office will ultimately be considered successful.

Within hours of being sworn in, Biden signed an executive order demanding masks on all federal properties, part of his campaign promise to force a federal mask mandate during his first 100 days in office.

“This will be the first of many commitments that we will have here,” said Biden in his first appearance in the Oval Office as president. “I thought that with the state of the nation today there is no time to lose. Start work immediately.”

On Biden’s first full day in office on Thursday, the White House is focusing on Covid-19, launching a national strategy to bring the pandemic under control, including several executive actions related to vaccination and testing.

Criticizing the Trump administration’s “lack of cooperation” as a “deterrent” to the new government, Covid White House coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Wednesday that he was still confident that the government could meet its goal than 100 million vaccines in 100 days.

“Almost a year ago, Americans could not count on the federal government for any strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach to responding to Covid,” said Zients. “And we have seen the tragic costs of that failure. As President Biden assumes today … that will change tomorrow.”

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