There is just over a month left in the Trump “presidency.” The orange one and the terrible “people” who work for him seem to be doing their utmost to make sure that he leaves America a charred wasteland when Joe Biden enters office. The latest fit of lethal pettiness seems to be that the administration simply isn’t communicating with anyone when it comes to deliveries of vaccines. States are reporting delays and cutbacks in vaccine shipments, while Pfizer claims the administration has stopped telling them where to ship the vaccine.
Yes, in a statement yesterday Pfizer said very plainly: “We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.” Just … let that sink in. Millions of vaccine doses are sitting there and the Trump administration is doing nothing. On Wednesday, the US broke a single-day record for COVID cases and deaths, and Donald Trump is actively making it harder for this vital vaccine to reach the public.
This news comes as governors in several states revealed that the federal government is giving them confusing messages, and in some cases, cutting the shipments by forty percent. States seeing delays or being told they won’t be getting the vaccine as promised include: Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Maryland, Florida, Oregon and Nebraska, as well as Washington, Michigan, Connecticut, Georgia, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire and Indiana.
That’s a huge swath of the country, including the entire west coast, where governors are getting very frustrated.
Our state remains committed to getting all doses we are allocated out to healthcare providers and into the arms of Washingtonians.
While we push for answers, that commitment will not change.
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) December 17, 2020
This was a federal decision, and I am seeking answers from the CDC about the reliability of the data we are receiving from week-to-week as Oregon builds our vaccine distribution plan.
— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) December 17, 2020
This is both frustrating and utterly horrifying given the level of cases and deaths we are seeing right now as well as the fact that there are millions of doses of vaccine just sitting there. The lack of communication and callousness here also match with the Trump administration’s disregard for human life throughout their run in office. Just this summer, the administration declined an offer from Pfizer to set aside more doses of the vaccine because, apparently, Trump just doesn’t care if people die.
And that’s really the crux of all this. It’s the final, deadly insult as Trump is dragged kicking and screaming from the White House. He never cared about us as Americans or even as people. He didn’t care about this virus except as it affected his political fortunes. He doesn’t care about anything. And, yes, there could be some bigger nefarious reason for these delays like he wants some other company’s vaccine to do better but the real truth is … they don’t care. Trump and his Republican enablers just don’t care if we live or die. They only care about themselves.
And we can’t get rid of them fast enough.
(via: Associated Press, image: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
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