White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is clarifying what has become a source of confusion around whether or not the Trump administration developed a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan.
During an appearance on NBCâs âMeet The Pressâ on Sunday, Klain was pressed on the confusion that has ensued after an unnamed Biden official claimed they were starting âfrom scratchâ to develop a distribution plan.
Host Chuck Todd noted that Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidenâs chief medical adviser, has pushed back on the claim that the Trump administration did not have a distribution plan. He asked Klain to give him an âassessmentâ of âwhat you inheritedâ from the previous administration.
Klain began by noting that coronavirus vaccines were developed in record time, and there have been millions of doses of the vaccines administered. However, he said, âBut the process to distribute the vaccine particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole did not really exist when we came into the White House.â
âAs everyone in America has seen, the way in which people get vaccines is chaotic. Itâs very limited,â he added.
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He continued to note roughly half of the doses that have been distributed to vaccine distribution locations have been administered.
âThe process of getting that vaccine into arms, thatâs the hard process, thatâs where weâre behind as a country, and thatâs where weâre focused in the Biden administration,â he said.
CNN reported on Thursday that a Biden official said they were âinheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration.â
âThere is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,â the official added.
However, Fauci pushed back on that narrative as he told reporters that the Biden administration was âcertainly not starting from scratch.â
âBecause there is activity going on in the distribution,â he added.
During an interview on CNN, Fauci also noted that he was involved in crafting a distribution plan under the Trump administration and that the new White House is incorporating parts of the old plan and is not âgoing to scrap it.â
