Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan, White House says

There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in the their last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, has said.

"The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.

Joe 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 under Trump’s watch. 

Biden launched a comprehensive federal plan to rein in the raging pandemic, and signed ten wide-ranging executive orders, ordering federal agencies, private industry, and US residents to act to slow the spread of the disease.

According to his detailed plans, Biden will partner with state and local governments to establish vaccination spots in conference centres, stadiums and gymnasiums. The new administration will also deploy thousands of clinical staff from federal agencies, military medical personnel and pharmacy chains to increase vaccinations, and make teachers and grocery clerks eligible.

Vaccination programmes lagged far behind the Trump administration's target of 20 million Americans inoculated by the end of 2020.

"We've seen this factor all over the country where millions of doses have been distributed, but only about half have been given out," Klain said.

"So the process of getting that vaccine into arms - that's the hard process. That's where we're behind as a country. That's where we're focussed in the Biden administration - on getting that ramped up."

The United States will also back a global plan to combat COVID-19 and get vaccines to poorer countries as part of a national strategy.

Under the said strategy, Biden has directed his secretary of state and secretary of health and human services to notify the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance of Washington’s intent to support the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and join its COVAX facility.

(with inputs from agencies)