Biden inherits non-existent covid vaccine plan from Trump, sources say

Biden's first actions to contain the pandemic 2:56

(CNN) -

Newly sworn in President Joe Biden and his advisers will not inherit any coronavirus vaccine distribution plans from the Trump administration, sources told CNN, posing a significant challenge to the new White House.

The Biden administration has vowed to try to reverse the covid-19 pandemic and dramatically accelerate the pace of vaccinating Americans against the virus.

But in the immediate hours after Biden took office on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration's covid-related work told CNN that one of the biggest shocks Biden's team had to digest during the period of The transition was what they saw as a complete absence of a vaccine distribution strategy during the administration of former President Donald Trump, even weeks after the use of various vaccines was approved in the United States.

There is nothing we can rework.

We will have to build everything from scratch, ”said a source.

Another source described the moment when it became clear that the Biden administration would essentially have to start from the "starting point" because there was simply no plan like, "Wow, just one more claim of complete incompetence."

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The incoming White House is now facing intense pressure to deliver on the promises Biden made during the campaign and transition phase to dramatically turn things around in the pandemic and behave completely differently from Trump when it comes to the virus and the distribution of vaccinations

Biden's transition team difficulties

Before Takeover Day, some of Biden's covid-19 advisers wanted to be careful not to be too critical in public about the Trump administration's handling of the virus and vaccine.

This, given that Biden's transition team was already struggling to obtain critical information and cooperation from the outgoing administration, the source said.

Now that the transition of power has taken place, the Biden administration hopes it can quickly begin to get a clearer picture of where things really are with the distribution and administration of vaccines across the country, going through a sort of "fact-checking" exercise on exactly what the Trump administration did and did not do, they added.

CNN previously reported that Biden's team's most pressing concerns about covid-19 include potential vaccine supply issues, coordination between federal and local governments, as well as funding, staffing, and other resource needs for local governments.

That is in addition to emerging variants of the covid, which the new White House, in consultation with scientists and experts, is watching with caution.

Biden has made clear that slowing the spread of COVID-19 and getting 100 million injections into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office are a top priority, goals that will determine whether Biden's first years in office they are ultimately considered successful.

Use of masks

Within hours of taking office, Biden signed an executive order requiring masks on all federal properties, a part of his campaign promise to push for a federal mask-wearing mandate during his first 100 days in office.

"This will be the first of many commitments that we are going to have here," Biden said in his first appearance in the Oval Office as president.

«I thought that with the state of the nation today there is no time to lose.

Get to work immediately.

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On Biden's first full day in office Thursday, the White House is targeting COVID-19 by implementing a national strategy to control the pandemic that includes numerous executive actions related to vaccination and testing.

Criticizing the Trump administration's "lack of cooperation" as an "impediment" to the new administration, White House covid coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters Wednesday that he was still confident that the administration could deliver on. their goal of injecting 100 million vaccines in 100 days.

"For almost a year, Americans have not been able to look to the federal government for any strategy, much less a comprehensive approach to respond to COVID," said Zients.

And we have seen the tragic costs of that failure.

When President Biden takes office today… that will change tomorrow.

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