Headline: Amazon Offers President Biden help with the COVID-19 vaccine distribution 

Author: Stephanie Logue

szl414@psu.edu

Amazon has made an offer to President Joe Biden to help distribute Covid-19 vaccines nationwide, a step that could speed up the federal effort to counter the pandemic. Shortly after Wednesday’s inauguration, Dave Clark, the CEO of Amazon’s consumer sector and one of the company’s top executives sent a letter to the president. “As you begin your work leading the country out of the COVID-19 crisis, Amazon stands ready to assist you in reaching your goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of your administration,” he wrote in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News. 

He also wrote in his letter; which NBC News received a copy of. Clark also wrote “We are prepared to leverage our operations, IT, & communications capabilities and expertise to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts. Our scale allows us to make a meaningful impact immediately in the fight against COVID-19, and we stand ready to assist you in this effort.” He said the corporation had strategies in place to administer vaccines on-site at Amazon facilities with approved third-party health care professionals. “We are prepared to move quickly once vaccines are available,” he wrote.

Amazon representative Jodi Seth said the corporation had been “in touch” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services of the Trump administration the past few months. To be more specific, she did not state that Amazon had exclusively extended to President Donald Trump. 

Last month, Clark also suggested the CDC obtain the vaccine “who cannot work from home” from staff working at Amazon fulfillment centers, Amazon Web Services data centers, and Whole Foods Market stores “at the earliest appropriate time.” He made the same request for the Biden administration to be vaccinated by Amazon’s staff.

So far, the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine has been tarnished by difficulties and concerns of inadequate availability. As they have extended eligibility to more citizens, a number of states have faced shortages of the vaccine. Due to an unspecified holdup in obtaining a shipment of Moderna vaccines, New York City canceled 23,000 vaccination appointments on Wednesday after previously warning the city was on the verge of running out of vaccines. 

On Friday, the governors of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota wrote to the Trump administration that if the federal government did not do enough to help them obtain vaccines, they would be forced to cancel potential mass vaccination facilities. Amazon is going to join other private enterprises that have Stepped up to assist in the delivery of vaccinations, such as Starbucks, which will support the efforts of Washington State.

Biden introduced an ambitious vaccination strategy involving the activation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Guard. The Defense Procurement Act to manufacture materials such as vials and syringes, and the establishment by the end of his first month in the office of 100 federally funded vaccination sites. Biden’s allies have indicated the federal plan is expected to help the rollout run more smoothly around the country than the more state-based approach of the Trump administration, even though the restricted availability of vaccines is likely to remain a problem before additional vaccines are accepted. “We are going to see a national strategy, as opposed to a patchwork quilt” of state policies, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told Peacock Wednesday about the difference between Biden and Trump’s Covid-19 responses. “We need that desperately from the federal government, and that will help us enormously at the state level.”

Sources: 

Byers, D. (2021, January 20). Amazon offers Biden help with Covid-19 vaccine distribution. Retrieved January 21, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/amazon-offers-biden-help-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-n1255041

Durkee, A. (2021, January 20). Amazon Offers To Help Biden With Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout. Retrieved January 21, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/01/20/amazon-offers-to-help-biden-with-covid-19-vaccine-rollout/?sh=3f5683de78a5