Amazon has offered to help President Biden distribute COVID-19 vaccines. The letter from Dave Clark, the company’s vice president of global operations and customer service, containing this statement was sent to Biden on the day of his inauguration.
In the letter, the company said it wants to help not only vaccinate its employees in warehouses and Whole Foods Market but also vaccinate the public in general.
“In addition, we stand ready to leverage our operations, information technology and communications capabilities, and expertise to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts,” Clark said. “Our scale allows us to accomplish a great deal in the fight against Covid-19, and we stand ready to assist you in that effort.”.
The letter quickly sparked a storm of backlash on social media from both the left and the right, with some pointing out Amazon's poor labor practices and others questioning why the company seemed to wait until Biden took office to offer assistance to the government. Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, were frequent targets of former President Donald Trump — in one tweet, Trump had called Bezos "Jeff Bozo."
Amazon says it has also reached out to the Trump administration about COVID-19 vaccinations. The company urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) Advisory Committee to prioritize vaccinations for essential workers, such as Amazon workers, who are unable to practice social distancing because of their jobs
Biden takes office at a critical time. The COVID-19 vaccination effort has become somewhat of a mess, with many states reporting difficulty getting the vaccine and many others reporting problems with the availability of doses. The Trump administration has fallen short of its stated goal of vaccinating 20 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2020. Biden has pledged to administer 100 million doses of the vaccine within the first 100 days of his administration.
Information source: fastcompany.com
