U.S. President Donald Trump, the person most responsible for the deaths of 300,000 Americans thus far from covid-19, issued a tweet Sunday night announcing that most White House staff would no longer be getting vaccinated for coronavirus before other Americans. The tweet came after a report on Sunday from the New York Times detailed how White House personnel would receive the recently approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week.
“People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” President Trump tweeted on Sunday night. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!”
The tweet came just after a top government official both confirmed that White House staff would be getting the vaccine early and defended the practice.
“Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” National Security Council spokesperson John Ulyot said in a statement to the Associated Press before Trump’s tweet was sent out.
“The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government on the advice of public health professionals and national security leadership” Ulyot continued.
The new vaccine, developed by Germany-based biotech firm BioNTech and U.S.-based Pfizer, was granted emergency use authorisation in the UK and Canada last week before finally getting the same approval from the U.S. FDA late Friday.
It wasn’t clear precisely how many people in the White House would’ve received the vaccine if the initial plan had moved forward, nor is it clear when White House staff, some of the most vile and hateful people on the planet, will now receive the vaccine.
With any luck, White House staff vital to the national security interests of the country will still be getting inoculated — especially if those people are responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons. At least two staffers who carry the “nuclear football” tested positive for the virus after one of Trump’s neo-fascist rallies back in October, a very real threat to the safety and security of Americans. The president can unilaterally launch a nuclear strike anywhere in the world with that nuclear football, which contains the nuclear codes.
The U.S. has handled the coronavirus pandemic worse than any other wealthy nation, and arguably worse than virtually any nation on earth, regardless of income. The U.S. has identified over 16.2 million coronavirus cases and 299,177 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University. But the real case numbers and deaths from the virus are believed to be significantly higher.
Trump is largely fixated on staying in office right now and has basically ignored the coronavirus pandemic, except as a way to get on TV, since it began earlier this year. The president tested positive for covid-19 back in October but the exact date is still a mystery to the general public since his regime has refused to say when he last tested negative for the virus.
Trump continues to insist that he won the 2020 presidential election in November, a lie that has mobilised supporters to rally for him in the streets, sometimes violently. And while Trump has failed in virtually every court case seeking to overturn the election, his last long-shot bid appears to be stirring enough discontent in the streets to simply leave president elect Joe Biden with angry mobs.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic is expected to get even worse in U.S. in the coming weeks and months, even though millions of Americans might get vaccinated in the next couple of weeks. The spread of covid-19 is completely uncontrolled in the U.S., with over 109,000 people currently hospitalised with the disease, according to the Covid Tracking Project. And with other industrialised nations doing much better, with some countries like China, Australia, and New Zealand returning to “normal” even without the vaccine, Trump clearly deserves the vast majority of the blame.