Protesters disrupt LA vaccination site Pentagon pauses vaccine plan for Guantanamo detainees
Los Angeles, Jan. 31: Protesters briefly disrupted a Coronavirus vaccination distribution centre at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, United States media reported Saturday.
Several dozen people carrying signs demanding the end of lockdowns and promoting anti-vaccination conspiracy theories gathered at the entrance to the site, one of the largest in the US, social media posts showed.
“There appears to be only about 30 protestors total. It's not clear why they've shut off the whole facility,” tweeted social media user Mikel Jollet.
Officials shut the site down for nearly an hour, US media reported, citing fire department officials — though the Los Angeles police department later insisted that the site had not been shut down and that all the vaccines would be distributed. The incident represents just the latest challenge to the vaccine rollout in the US, which has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world from Covid-19.
More than 26 million people have been infected and 439,000 have died in the country since the start of the pandemic, a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University showed Satuday.
President Joe Biden has pledged to have 100 million people vaccinated within his first 100 days — but the rollout began slowly under former President Donald Trump. Los Angeles county, where Covid-19 cases have surged this winter, is currently only vaccinating frontline medical workers and people aged 65 and over.
Even among those groups, appointments are extremely difficult to obtain, with PfizerBioNTech and Moderna shots in limited supply.
Washington, Jan. 31: The Pentagon said Saturday it was putting on hold a plan to give Covid vaccines to terror detainees at Guantanamo, following an outcry as the United States struggles to deliver jabs to frontline workers and vulnerable elderly Americans.
“No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted. “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.” The Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba houses detainees in the US “war on terror,” including top Al-Qaeda figure and alleged 9/11 attack planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The Department of Defence told US media earlier in the week that it would offer vaccines to its detainees and prisoners, to be administered “on a voluntary basis.” Backlash came from Republican lawmakers, including the party's top congressman, Kevin McCarthy.
“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,” he said on Twitter.
Added New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik: “It is inexcusable and un-American that President Biden is choosing to prioritize vaccinations for convicted terrorists in Gitmo over vulnerable
American seniors or veterans.” The United States has been the world's hardest-hit country by the Coronavirus pandemic, in absolute terms, with 436,000 deaths and nearly 26 million cases.
President Joe Biden has pledged to vaccine 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, but so far the country's mass inoculation drive has been beset by stumbles, including a shortfall in vaccines and widespread technical difficulties for eligible Americans trying to make appointments.
According to health officials, the US has so far administered just under 30 million of the nearly 50 million doses distributed in the country.