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

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The Biden administration has pledged to try to reverse the Covid-19 pandemic and dramatically speed up Americans’ vaccination rates against the virus. But in the immediate hours after Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration’s Covid-related work told CNN that one of the biggest shocks the Biden team had to deal with during the transition period was what they saw as a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under former President Donald Trump, even weeks after multiple vaccines were approved for use in the United States.

“We don’t have to rework anything. We will have to build everything from scratch,” said a source.

Another source described the moment when it became clear that the Biden administration should essentially start from “finished,” because there was simply no plan like, “Wow, just further confirmation of complete incompetence.”

The upcoming White House is now under a lot of pressure to fulfill the promises Biden made during the campaign and transition phase to drastically change the pandemic and behave very differently from Trump when it comes to spreading viruses and vaccines.

Ahead of the inauguration day, some of Biden’s Covid-19 advisers wanted to be careful not to be overly critical in public about the way the Trump administration handled the virus and vaccine, as the Biden transition team was already struggling to criticize get information and cooperation from the outgoing administration, the source said.

Now that the transfer of power has taken place, the Biden administration is hoping they can quickly get a clearer picture of where things really stand with the distribution and delivery of vaccines nationwide by undergoing some sort of “fact-checking” exercise. . about what exactly the Trump administration had and had not done, she added.

CNN has previously reported that the Biden team’s most pressing concerns regarding Covid-19 include potential vaccine supply issues, coordination between federal and local governments, as well as funding, human resources, and other resource needs for local governments. That is in addition to the emerging Covid variants, which the new White House – in consultation with scientists and experts – is watching cautiously.

Biden has made it clear that slowing the spread of Covid-19 and getting 100 million vaccinations shots to Americans’ arms during his first 100 days are top priority – goals that will determine whether Biden’s early years of office will eventually be successful considered. .

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

“This will be the first of many appointments we will hold here,” said Biden during his first appearance in the Oval Office as president. ‘I thought there is no time to waste with the state of the nation today. Get to work immediately. ‘

On Biden’s first full workday on Thursday, the White House is focusing on Covid-19 by rolling out a national strategy to get the pandemic under control, including numerous executive measures related to vaccination and testing.

Criticizing the Trump administration’s “ lack of cooperation ” as a “ hindrance ” to the new administration, Covid White House coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Wednesday that he was still confident that the administration would 100 million shots in 100 days. .

“For nearly a year, Americans have been unable to turn to the federal government for any strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach to responding to Covid,” Zients said. And we’ve seen the tragic cost of that failure. With President Biden taking office today … that will change tomorrow. ”

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