Vaccine reserve was already exhausted when Trump administration vowed to release it, dashing hopes of expanded access

January 15, 2021 ☼ trumpincompetenceshit

Source: The Washington Post - Link

When Azar embraced the change four days later — after initially saying it was shortsighted and potentially unethical in risking the availability of a booster shot — he did not say the original policy had already been phased out, or that the stockpile had been exhausted. Signaling to states that they would soon see expanded supply, he also urged them to begin vaccinating adults 65 and older and those under 64 with a high-risk medical condition. Officials in some states embraced that directive, while others said suddenly putting hundreds of thousands of additional people at the front of the line would overwhelm their capacity.

In subsequent conversations with state and local authorities, federal officials sought to temper those instructions, said people who participated in the conversations. Gustave F. Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, spoke directly to officials in at least two of the jurisdictions receiving vaccine supply, explaining that allocations would not increase and that they did not have to broaden eligibility as they had previously been told, according to a health official who was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The health director in Oregon, Patrick M. Allen, was so disturbed by the realization that he wrote a letter Thursday to Azar demanding an explanation.

Damning incompetence. Trump fired the competent ones and kept the incompetent because they would tell him what he wanted to hear.