Amazon Offers to Help Biden Administration Distribute, Administer 100 Million COVID Vaccines in 100 Days

Mike Mareen / Shutterstock.com
Mike Mareen / Shutterstock.com

In a letter to President Biden yesterday, Amazon offered to help the new administration with its goal to vaccinate 100 million Americans in its first 100 days.

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“There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” a Biden source told CNN this morning about the Trump administration’s “nonexistent” vaccine plan. Yesterday, the U.S. surpassed the 400,000 COVID deaths mark.

Under former president Trump, the lack of a clear national distribution strategy for the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the lack of necessary funds to execute that strategy, have left states scrambling for solutions, ending in a slow and disorganized roll out. As of yesterday, only 16.5 million shots have been administered since the vaccine has been available in the U.S., instead of the 20 million shots initially projected before the end of last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the letter to Biden first obtained by Reuters, Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, said the company has “an agreement in place with a licensed third-party occupational health care provider to administer vaccines on-site at our Amazon facilities. We are prepared to move quickly once vaccines are available.” Clark added that Amazon is prepared “to leverage our operations, information technology and 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.”

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Clark also reiterated his call for Amazon employees to be vaccinated soon, as they are “essential workers.” Clark made that request last month in a letter to the CDC.

In his letter to Biden, fully released on CNBC, Clark said that most of the employees “are essential workers who cannot work from home. We are proud of the role our employees have played to help customers stay safe and receive important products and services at home, which is critical for people with underlying medical conditions and those susceptible to complications from Covid-19. The essential employees working at Amazon fulfillment centers, AWS data centers, and Whole Foods Market stores across the country who cannot work from home should receive the Covid-19 vaccine at the earliest appropriate time. We will assist them in that effort.”

The letter coincides with the release of President Biden’s National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, which outlines goals and provides a roadmap to address the pandemic.

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