The Pentagon’s top spokesperson said the vaccine plan was part of the Defense Department’s original rollout.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said the Trump administration set in motion the now-reversed decision to vaccinate 40 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, after the plan initiated a sharp backlash as coronavirus vaccine doses remain scarce across the country.
John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, said the vaccine plan was part of the Defense Department’s original rollout, rather than the result of a specific decision to vaccinate the detainees ahead of other people.
Under the Trump administration plan, the Pentagon first offered the vaccine to health care workers and their support staff, followed by those with critical national security jobs, and then the workforce over 65 years of age or with prior medical conditions.
Due to its unique population, Guantanamo Bay moved through the phases of the rollout “at a faster clip than others,” Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
“The vaccination plan underway was underway before President [Joe] Biden took office, before Secretary [Lloyd] Austin took office,” he said. “That’s not to impugn that decision-making process at all … that scheme was already underway and being executed.”
Last Wednesday, Terry Adirim, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, officially approved the facility to move to the third phase of vaccinations — the category the detainees fall into, Kirby told POLITICO.
The New York Times first reported the news last Thursday that the detainees would receive the vaccine, sparking outrage from critics who slammed the Biden administration for putting the needs of suspected terrorists over the American people.
Two days later, Kirby announced on Twitter that the plan was on hold and that no detainees had received the vaccine.
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The Pentagon on Tuesday said the Trump administration set in motion the now-reversed decision to vaccinate 40 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, after the plan initiated a sharp backlash as coronavirus vaccine doses remain scarce across the country https://t.co/GaPllQtPmw
— POLITICO (@politico) February 3, 2021While those of us law abiding citizens in the states can’t get the vaccine. Well, maybe now I know where the doses for PA went or were going to be shipped.
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