Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized President Joe Biden on Monday, saying he “inherited” a fast track for coronavirus vaccines and questioning why he wants to restrict certain gatherings until July 4th.
“Why did President Biden tell Americans to wait until July 4th to gather in ways that cities, states, and the CDC approve right now,” McConnell asked in a tweet. “Why did he present a million vaccines per day as a personal ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment when it’s simply the pace Democrats inherited in January?”
Operation Warp Speed, a partnership initiated by President Donald Trump and his administration, worked to speed up the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
In an address to the American people last week, Biden claimed credit for the speedy manufacturing and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine ordered by then-President Trump.
“Two months ago, this country didn’t have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or ever near all of the American people, public,” Biden claimed.
Biden also touted his planned efforts to administer one million coronavirus shots per day, or 100 million in his first 100 days in office.
“I can say we’re not only going to meet that goal, we’re going to beat that goal,” Biden said.
In February, Biden claimed President Trump “had no real plan to vaccinate most of the country,” a statement that was mostly false, as reported by Breitbart News:
[A] key component of Operation Warp Speed had been to prepare for distribution long before anyone knew which particular vaccine (if any) would be proven effective.
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The Department of Health and Human Services outlined the distribution plan in September 2020. When there were initial problems, thanks in part to confusion over a two-dose system, and in part due to differing state policies, the outgoing administration updated its plan to expand vaccination sites and the number of Americans who were eligible to receive it.
There was also the problem of state reluctance. Democratic governors, such as New York’s Andrew Cuomo and California’s Gavin Newsom, announced that their states would review the efficacy of any vaccine approved by the Trump administration.
Former senior adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services John “Wolf” Wagner also confirmed to Breitbart News last month there was a vaccine distribution plan before Biden took office.
Last July, the Washington Post reported that pharmaceutical companies were working at “record-breaking speed” to produce a vaccine.
On January 19, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller announced that 5,500,000 additional vaccines were distributed to the American people, bringing the number of vaccine doses distributed at that time to 35,761,800.
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