Shortly after President Joe Biden took office on Wednesday, Amazon congratulated him on his inauguration and offered his extensive resources to assist the new government in its vaccination effort.
“As you begin your work leading the country out of the COVID-19 crisis, Amazon is ready to help you achieve your goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of your administration,” Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s consumer world business, wrote in a letter to Biden on Wednesday.
“We are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology and communication skills and experience to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts,” continued Clark. “Our scale allows us to have a significant impact immediately in the fight against Covid-19 and we are ready to assist you in that effort.”
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Amazon’s offer was well received by many after a slow implementation of the recently approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
An Amazon spokesman declined to provide an official explanation of why the company did not offer its assistance to the Trump administration.
Amazon told Fox News that the company has been in contact with U.S. government officials for the past nine months about the response to COVID-19. An Amazon spokesman also pointed to a letter that Clark sent to a CDC advisory board on Dec. 16 on vaccine distribution.
“We ask that [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] continue to prioritize those essential workers who cannot work from home, such as those who work at Amazon distribution centers, AWS data centers and Whole Foods Market stores, to get the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible, “he wrote Clark to the president of ACIP, Dr. Jose R. Romero.
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Clark’s December letter did not contain any offer to help with vaccine distribution.
On Wednesday, Clark offered “operations, information technology and communication and experience skills” to help distribute the vaccine.
Clark also reiterated on Wednesday that “key employees who work at Amazon distribution centers, AWS data centers and Whole Foods Market stores across the country who cannot work from home should receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. fast as possible. “
CORONAVIRUS IN THE USA: STATE-BY-STATE DISTRIBUTION
On December 11, the FDA issued the first emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech. Moderna’s vaccine was approved on December 18.
More than a month after the two vaccines began to be distributed, only 16,525,281 Americans received the first dose, according to the CDC. 35,990,150 doses have already been distributed.
The blame for the complicated implementation has changed over time. The Trump administration was heavily involved in the vaccine development process through Operation Warp Speed, but left it up to states to distribute the vaccine on their own.
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“It is up to the states to distribute the vaccines once they are delivered to areas designated by the Federal Government,” tweeted former President Trump in late December. “Not only did we develop vaccines, including money to move the process quickly, but we also took them to the states.”
President Joe Biden has pledged to increase the federal government’s involvement in the vaccination process, saying he will invoke the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of vaccines, while using the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to distribute them.