In a move of stunning tone-deafness, the Biden administration reportedly planned to give detainees at Guantanamo Bay the COVID-19 vaccine before many elderly Americans have even received it.
They have since decided against this.
As you can probably imagine, this sparked some push back from Republicans in Congress and ordinary citizens. Survivors of 9/11 weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea either.
Bronson Stocking reports at Townhall:
Biden Administration Halts Vaccine Plan Following Backlash from 9/11 Survivors and RepublicansPresident Biden boasted about his administration’s goal to give 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office. It was hardly a goal since Biden pretty much inherited that pace from the Trump administration. But what Biden didn’t boast about was his administration’s plan to vaccinate detainees, like 9/11 mastermind Kaled Sheik Mohammad, being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center long before the vaccine becomes available to the overwhelming majority of Americans.Biden is just days into the job and is already backtracking on an administrative decision to give the coronavirus vaccine to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The 6,000 residents at the U.S. naval base began receiving the first of two vaccine doses on Jan. 8, but the Trump administration never clarified at the time whether or not detainees would be among those vaccinated. The Biden administration, however, wanted to make sure they would be.On Thursday, a Pentagon official confirmed that detainees would be offered coronavirus vaccines on a voluntary basis beginning as early as Monday. But the Pentagon announced on Saturday that it was pausing the plan to vaccinate detainees at Gitmo.The reversal comes after intense backlash to the decision from 9/11 survivors, Republicans, and incensed Americans.
See some reactions below:
The Pentagon has made it clear that this effort has been shelved, for now at least.
Tal Axelrod writes at The Hill:
Pentagon pauses plan to offer coronavirus vaccine to Guantánamo Bay prisonersThe Pentagon announced Saturday that it is pausing a plan to offer coronavirus vaccines to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay after facing a wave of pushback.“No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated. We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols. We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe,” tweeted Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
It’s just amazing that anyone considered this plan in the first place.
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