Joe Biden has been slammed for taking sole credit for America's vaccine roll-out, despite the fact his Administration has heavily rel...
Joe Biden has been slammed for taking sole credit for America's vaccine roll-out, despite the fact his Administration has heavily relied on Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed initiative.
In his address to the nation on Thursday night, the new President proclaimed that all American adults will be eligible to receive the COVID vaccine as of May 1 because of the work he had done in partnering with manufacturers of the shot.
But conservative commentators are now criticizing the Commander-in-chief for failing to acknowledge the role his predecessor played in process.
Sean Hannity led the outrage stating on his Fox News show: 'Joe, you want unity? Why don't you just thank Donald Trump? You want us all to get along, you say. No Trump, no vaccine, Joe. Stop trying to take credit for something, frankly, you had nothing to do with. Nothing.'
Meanwhile, Katie Pavlich told her 807,000 Twitter followers: 'Biden taking credit for the vaccine is just absolutely astonishing, but not surprising'.
'Who let him out of the basement?' actor Terrence K. Williams asked. 'Joe Biden is taking credit for the things President Trump made happen in this horrible presidential address. Operation Warp Speed created by Trump is the reason the rollout of the vaccine is successful.'
The Trump Administration established Operation Warp Speed last April to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID vaccines.
The public-private partnership has been lauded by people on both sides of the aisle. In recent days, even mainstream media outlets such as ABC and The New York Times have credited Trump with contributing the success of the vaccines.
Both publications have criticized Biden for failing to truthfully acknowledge that fact.
Joe Biden has been slammed for taking sole credit for America's vaccine roll-out, despite the fact his Administration has heavily relied on Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed initiative
Conservative commentators are now criticizing the Commander-in-chief for failing to acknowledge the role his predecessor played in the vaccine process
Meanwhile on Thursday night, former New York Congresswoman Nan Hayworth slammed Biden for referencing his own administration 'over and over again' while referencing the vaccines in his address.
'The ONLY reason he can do any of the things he's doing for vaccines and vaccination is Operation Warp Speed,' she wrote on Twitter.
Author Scott Fishman wrote: 'Remember when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris spent months lying about not trusting the vaccine simple because President Trump spearheaded Operation Warp Speed? Now, they're trying to take credit for it. SICK PEOPLE.
Bill Clinton accuser Juanita Broderick also chimed in, stating: 'The biggest scam is Joe Biden taking credit for the vaccine.'
In his address, Biden stated: 'Two months ago, this country didn't have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or anywhere near all of the American public, but soon we will,' Biden stated.
'We've been working with vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, to manufacture and purchase hundreds of millions of doses of these three safe, effective vaccines.'
He continued: 'Now, at the direction and with the assistance of my administration, Johnson & Johnson is working together with a competitor, Merck, to speed up and increase the capacity to manufacture new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is one shot. In fact, just yesterday, I announced, and I met with the CEOs of both companies. I announced our plan to buy an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.'
But Biden made no mention of Warp Speed, nor of the fact that Trump had already agreed to buy enough doses for 200 million adults from Pfizer and Moderna.
He had also agreed to buy 100 million more from J&J once it received authorization from the FDA.
That order would have effectively covered all American adults by the beginning of summer.
ABC has referenced that fact in an article this week, while The New York Times stated that 'Biden benefited hugely from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration had set in motion.'
Kayleigh McEnany tweeted screenshots of both of those articles following Biden's speech, writing: 'Even the media acknowledges the Trump administration's role in spearheading vaccine development and procurement, but President Biden REFUSES to say the truth.'
Following Biden's address on Thursday, even The Washington Post stated that Biden's effort to pitch the vaccine roll-out as his success story was 'overstated'.
The President had initially pledged to have 100 million shots administered in his first 100 days of office, but President Trump was already meeting that target.
'To hit the goal, Biden mostly just needed to keep things moving in the direction they were going,' the paper wrote.
'Casting this as some unthinkable feat goes too far.'
As of Thursday, about 33.9 million Americans have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
A further 30.2 million have received at least one shot of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.
Trump sought to take credit Wednesday evening for America's vaccine success in a statement that read more like one of his tweets claiming that the shot would be five years away if not for him.
As the 100 millionth dose is set to be administered in the coming days, the former president said he 'hopes everyone remembers' who was in charge when the vaccinations were developed.
'I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the Covid-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) vaccine, that if I wasn't president, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful shot for five years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all,' he said.
Trump issued the statement under the letterhead of The Office of Donald J. Trump, but it was very reminiscent of his tweet, which he has been unable to send since he was banned from the platform in the wake of the Capitol riot on January 6.
Trump issued a statement Wednesday evening reading like one of the tweets taking credit for America's vaccine success
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