Commentary: NYT Reporter Rocks Psaki with Facts After Biden Falsely Takes Credit for Vaccine Deal

A New York Times reporter called out the Biden administration in a news conference for attempting to take credit for the deal between rival pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. to help manufacture coronavirus vaccines.

“We are now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” President 👤Joe Biden said Tuesday, according to The Blaze.

In addition to the news, Biden took a jab at former President Donald Trump’s vaccine plan. “When we came into office, the prior administration had contracted not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America,” he said.

Following the announcement, one reporter promptly corrected Biden’s claim — and hit White House press secretary Jen Psaki with the hard facts.

“On the timing of the administration’s efforts to help pull this deal together — you said that it was within, I think, the last few weeks — is that what you had said?” the White House correspondent for The Times, Michael Shear, asked.

“We wrote our first story in The New York Times about a possible partnership between Merck and J&J for manufacturing on Jan. 21. That was when it published. So, and my understanding was that talks between those companies had been in the works before that even in terms, sort of, the corporate discussions between them. So could you help explain how it is that the Biden administration deserves credit for bringing these two together when it looks like the discussions had been underway long before you guys got here?”