Pentagon ‘Pauses’ Plan To Give Guantanamo Bay Prisoners COVID-19 Vaccine Ahead Of Many Americans

Follow Doug on Parler @TheGilesWay.

Which brainiac came up with this and thought that it wouldn’t spark a whole truckload of outrage?

On Saturday, social media was abuzz with the news that terrorists being held at Gitmo had been approved to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This comes as a vaccine shortage has left some first-responders and millions of Americans at high-risk for COVID waiting longer for their turn.

The Daily Mail’s  headline was: “It’s absurd’: Fury from FDNY vets as Biden administration okays COVID vaccine for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 40 other ‘Gitmo’ terror detainees – months before most Americans.”

From the article:

The Biden administration has been blasted after it was revealed that COVID-19 vaccines will be offered to Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Al Qaeda terrorists and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as early as next week.

Prosecutor Clayton Trivett Jr, who is leading the case against five terrorists behind the September 11 attacks, made the disclosure in a letter to defense lawyers Thursday.

‘[A]n official in the Pentagon has just signed a memo approving the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine to the detainee population Guantánamo,’ he wrote, according to the New York Times.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) posted a spicy tweet alerting his followers that terrorists being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were approved by the Biden administration to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the early roll-out. He wrote, “President Biden told us he would have a plan to defeat the virus on day 1. He just never told us that it would be to give the vaccine to terrorists before most Americans.”

President Biden told us he would have a plan to defeat the virus on day 1. He just never told us that it would be to give the vaccine to terrorists before most Americans.

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) January 30, 2021

An hour later, Pentagon spox, John Kirby tweeted that no detainees had been vaccinated.

No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated. We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols. We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe.

— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) January 30, 2021

The Daily Mail reported that this was to speed up the trial of Gitmo detainees which were set to resume on January 11 but were delayed due to the pandemic.

The vaccination effort is reportedly intended to help resume legal proceedings for prisoners such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that have been delayed due to the pandemic.

But the news sparked fury from politicians and 9/11 responders, who slammed the decision to vaccinate terrorists before American citizens…

…Tom Von Essen, who was New York City’s Fire Commissioner during 9/11, said: ‘You can’t make this up. The ridiculousness of what we get from our government. They will run the vaccine down to those lowlifes at Guantanamo Bay before every resident of the United States of America gets it is the theater of the absurd.’

‘It’s f**ing nuts,’ Von Essen told the New York Post.

John Feal, a demolition supervisor at the Ground Zero pile, told the Post: ‘The fact that the 9/11 community can’t get the vaccine and the terrorists can show how backward our government is.

‘It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s an insult to the people who ran into the towers and were killed and those who worked on the pile for months and are ill.’
Source: Daily Mail

Now it appears that the Pentagon has decided to “pause” the roll-out due to the massive backlash they’ve faced.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Saturday they would pause their plan to offer coronavirus vaccinations to detainees at Guantánamo Bay, reversing course just days after they said that the vaccine would be administered to those that wanted it…

…The naval base in Cuba has 6,000 residents, including 1,500 U.S. troops who work at the prison, where 40 prisoners remain. By law, prisoners must receive all of their health care on the base and there is only one community hospital to service the area.

Some public health experts and criminal justice advocates have argued that incarcerated people should be high on the priority list to receive the vaccine, as many are detained in tight quarters and are in close contact with prison staff, creating ripe conditions for a widespread Covid-19 breakout.

It is not known how many people at Guantánamo have been infected with Covid-19. The Pentagon in March 2020 prohibited commanders from publicly reporting new coronavirus cases among their personnel as cases surged worldwide.
Source: NBC News

There is a vaccine shortage. How did they think that this would be acceptable with vulnerable communities?

It’s all nuts.