CNN filed what on the surface looked like a blockbuster report Thursday about how sources within the Biden administration claimed that they were having to “start from scratch” on the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Their White House correspondent M.J. Lee quoted multiple anonymous officials who stated, without evidence, that allegedly inheriting no vaccine rollout plan from the Trump administration “was just further affirmation of complete incompetence” on the part of former Trump officials:
Newly sworn in President Joe Biden and his advisers are inheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, sources tell CNN, posing a significant challenge for the new White House.[…]… in the immediate hours following Biden being sworn into office on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration’s Covid-related work told CNN one of the biggest shocks that the Biden team had to digest 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.”There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source said.Another source described the moment that it became clear the Biden administration would have to essentially start from “square one” because there simply was no plan as: “Wow, just further affirmation of complete incompetence.”
The big problem with this “report” is that Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci undercut it pretty quickly. During a press briefing in an exchange with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, he noted that the incoming Biden team had some “fresh ideas” they would incorporate into the existing vaccine rollout plan already in place. He also said it included “some ideas that were not bad ideas”:
Welker: Is the Biden administration starting from scratch with the vaccine distribution effort? Or are you picking up where the Trump administration left off?Fauci: No, I mean, we certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution. But if you look at the plan that the President has put forth about the things that he’s going to do, namely, get community vaccine centers up, get pharmacies more involved, where appropriate, get the Defense Production Act involved not only, perhaps, with getting more vaccine, but even the things you need to get a good vaccine program. For example, needles and syringes that might be more useful in that. So it’s taking what’s gone on, but amplifying it in a big way.Welker: President Biden said that what was left was abysmal, essentially. I mean, is there anything actionable that you are taking from the previous administration? Or — and is that delaying your efforts to get the vaccine? I mean, that’s the question.Fauci: No. We’re coming in with fresh ideas but also some ideas that were not bad ideas with the previous administration. You can’t say it was absolutely not usable at all. So we are continuing, but you’re going to see a real ramping up of it.
Watch:
CNN updated their report later to include Fauci’s comments. Still, M.J. Lee referred to Fauci as a “holdover from the Trump administration” in a tweet she posted later, an apparent attempt at trying to diminish the opinions of the man who up until yesterday was a darling in media and Democrat circles:
Twitter user Drew Holden compiled a lengthy thread full of tweets from other media outlets and Democrats who amplified the fake news about how the Biden administration was supposedly starting with no vaccine rollout plan. Here are a few of them:
“Reports” like these are planted by Democrats and amplified by liberally biased media outlets like CNN by design. They don’t have to necessarily be substantiated because Democrats know that by merely tossing a serious allegation out there that the media will rush to lend it credence merely by tweeting and writing about it. Then, hours later, when the blockbuster story is debunked, it’s too late to correct the mess because the narrative has been set. Mission accomplished.
We saw this happen with regularity during the Trump administration, where Democrats and the media conspired to push “blockbuster” anti-Trump stories that ended up being big nothing burgers. It’s only going to get worse in the Biden administration, thanks in no small part to outlets like CNN, which appears to be taking to their role as unofficial state-run TV outlet for Joe Biden with extreme relish.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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