The Trump administration had no plan to distribute COVID-19 Vaccines- Ron Klain

WASHINGTON, Jan 24- There was no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan drawn up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in his final months in office, new President Joe Biden’s chief of staff said on Sunday.

“The process for distributing the vaccine, particularly out of nursing homes and hospitals into mainstream society, didn’t really exist when we got to the White House,” Klain said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show.

Biden, a Democrat who took over from Republican President Donald Trump on Wednesday, has promised a fierce fight against the pandemic that killed 400,000 people in the United States during Trump’s term.

He signed a series of executive orders last week, including some that focus on the distribution of vaccines.

Biden plans to partner with state and local governments to establish vaccination points at conference centers, stadiums and gyms. The new administration will also deploy thousands of clinical staff from federal agencies, military medical personnel and pharmacy chains to increase vaccinations, and will make teachers and grocery clerks candidates.

Vaccination programs fell far short of the Trump administration’s goal of 20 million Americans to be inoculated by the end of 2020.

“We have seen this factor across the country, where millions of doses have been distributed, but it has only been distributed about half,” Klain said.

“So the process of getting that vaccine into your arms, that’s the difficult process. That is where we are behind as a country. That is where we focus on the Biden administration: on getting it.”