President Joe Biden is taking credit for implementing a plan that he says sped up the time frame for when every adult in the country will be able to get a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, some former Trump officials say the current administration is taking a page out of their vaccine rollout plan and arguing that they deserve some credit.
During a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Psaki was asked, “The president has been pretty critical of the prior administration’s handling of the pandemic, saying you inherited a mess here, but when it comes to vaccinations, you are following some of the same playbook here, so does the prior administration deserve some credit for laying the groundwork?”
“I don’t think anyone deserves credit when half a million people in the country have died from this pandemic,” Psaki said. “So what our focus is on and what the president’s focus is on when he came into office just over a month ago, was ensuring that we have enough vaccines.”
She continued, “We are going to have them now. We had enough vaccinators, and we had enough vaccine locations to get this pandemic under control.”
Watch the video below:
Asked if the Trump administration deserves more credit for initiating vaccine rollout, press sec. Jen Psaki tells @marykbruce, "I don't think anyone deserves credit when half a million people in the country have died of this pandemic." https://t.co/F7XMlskBBJ pic.twitter.com/HSsNnzyqFd
— ABC News (@ABC) March 4, 2021
Psaki also claimed that “there’s no question, and all data points to the fact there were not enough of any of those things” when Biden assumed the presidency.
“We are open-eyed about the challenge we continue to live under, and that’s why he’s been focused every single day in doing everything possible to get the pandemic under control,” she added.
On Tuesday, Biden said, “We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.”
“Let me say that again. When we came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America. We rectified that. About three weeks ago, we were able to say that we’ll have enough vaccine supply for adults by the end of July,” he continued.
He added, “I’m pleased to announce today as the consequence of the stepped-up process that I’ve ordered and just outlined, this country will have enough vaccine supply — I’ll say it again — for every adult in America by the end of May… That’s progress. Important progress.”