Amazon offers to help President Biden speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, asking if the offer was ever made to the Trump administration.
Amazon CEO Dave Clark pitched the idea to Biden as soon as he took office in a Wednesday letter also congratulating him on his inauguration.
“We are ready to leverage our operational, IT and communications capabilities and expertise to support your administration’s vaccination efforts. Our scale allows us to immediately have a meaningful impact, ”wrote Clark.
White House press officer Jen Psaki said in a briefing Thursday afternoon that “we have had a lot of contact, some private, some public, from a range of private sector companies and entities. And we certainly welcome that. And we will consider all those offers. “
A journalist pressed Psaki about the timing of Amazon’s offer and asked if the tech giant would wait until after Trump left office as “a political appeal … while lives are at stake.
‘I’m not aware of the timeline Amazon contacted. That seems like a question for Amazon to me, ”said Psaki.
Biden has made vaccine distribution one of its top priorities, pledging to distribute 100 million vaccine doses in its first 100 days. The rate would be slightly higher than Trump’s last weekly rate 912,497 doses given per day.
Trump routinely attacked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, calling on the US Postal Service to charge Amazon more for parcel delivery.
Clark, the Amazon manager who pitched Biden to the idea, was responsible for a letter in December to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeking help in obtaining access to the vaccine for the company’s employees.
Clark wrote to Biden that Amazon’s help could be a game changer.
“Our scale allows us to have an immediate meaningful impact in the fight against COVID-19, and we are ready to help you with this,” wrote Clark.
“Since the beginning of this crisis, we have worked hard to protect our employees. We are committed to supporting your administration’s vaccination efforts as we work together to protect our employees and continue to provide essential services during the pandemic. “
The e-commerce and cloud computing giant has one of the most advanced distribution and shipping operations in the country.
Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $ 250 million. The newspaper had a fraught relationship with Trump, who called the newspaper “an expensive … lobbyist for Amazon.”
Trump’s Justice Department has questioned Amazon about antitrust concerns.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defended the investigation a 2019 CNBC performance, arguing that Amazon “destroyed retail in the United States.”
In a 2019 Medium post, Bezos defended his ownership of the newspaper, writing, “My ownership of the Washington Post is a complexity factor for me. Inevitably, certain powerful people who experience Washington Post coverage will mistakenly conclude that I am their enemy. “
He added, “My stewardship of The Post and my support for its mission, which will remain unshakable, is something I’ll be most proud of when I’m 90 and look at my life, if I’m lucky enough to life, regardless of the complexity it creates for me. “
An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on its correspondence with the Trump administration and whether the company was supporting Trump in the distribution of vaccines.
An Amazon representative, reached by NBC News, said the company had been “ in touch ” with the CDC last month but would not say whether the company had made the same rapprochement with Trump.
In a tweet posted Thursday afternoon, Amazon’s public policy team defended their behavior by saying, “Actually, we didn’t wait.
“We assisted the Trump administration with vaccines, built new tools for researchers and public health authorities, hired Operation Warp Speed for logistics and advised on testing, and flew in PPE from China when America needed it most.”