The single most important story we’re covering right now? No national plan and no national strategy for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.
We’ve been on this since October, as it became clear a vaccine or vaccines would soon be ready but without the money or a plan for mass vaccinations.
Many of you have been optimistic that we would turn a corner by the spring thanks to the vaccines. My own circle of friends and family has been similarly optimistic. I hate being a naysayer (really!) but on the current track, I think we’re more likely looking at Thanksgiving as the time when things will start to seem normal again. Even that might be overly optimistic.
Josh Kovensky has been ALL OVER this story for us. The challenge of the current moment –a coup-curious president, ongoing impeachable offenses, a Senate majority in the balance – is that we’re struggling to give enough play to Trump’s vaccine distribution failure and the thousands of lives it will cost and the continuing economic and social dislocation that will result. But it is THE story of 2021, and in two weeks the focus will shift to whether Biden can rise to the occasion and overcome the horrendous mess Trump has left him on this front. You can bet Republicans will be happy to dump it in his lap. Just remember we’ve been screaming about this for months.
