Why didn’t the WH reveal what it knew about the J&J COVID vaccine screwup?

[Counselor706]

News on the COVID vaccine front has been overwhelmingly positive for months. Messiness surrounding the AstraZeneca candidate aside, the rollout has accelerated in the United States under President Joe Biden, and the shots themselves keep proving effective. Even amid a disturbing uptick in cases, there’s cause for measured optimism as each new jab brings us closer to getting this pandemic under control. Which is part of what made Wednesday’s news of a mix-up at a Johnson & Johnson production facility in Baltimore, which left about 15 million doses of the single-shot vaccine unusable and will delay future shipments, such a bummer. It’s not clear how much of an impact the error will have, but it’s a frustrating setback nonetheless—and, more maddening still, one that the Biden administration apparently knew about but didn’t publicly disclose.

But the administration’s failure to be forthcoming about the incident could be its own problem. Vaccine hesitancy, particularly among those on the right, remains a major hurdle. Errors at a production facility are already sure to fan the flames of vaccine skepticism—but the administration apparently knowing and not immediately making it public could pour lighter fluid on anti-vax sentiment. It’s not clear how the decision to keep mum was made, but the seeming lack of transparency continues a somewhat questionable pattern for the Biden press shop. In February, it duffed its response to threats former deputy press secretary T.J. Ducklo leveled at a Politico journalist who was writing on his relationship with then-Axios reporter Alexi McCammond—an incident first reported by my colleague Caleb Ecarma. Though Biden had promised on his first day in office to immediately fire any staffer who treated others with “disrespect,” Ducklo was initially suspended for one week before ultimately resigning. Then, last week, there was the ill-advised decision to have Vice President Kamala Harris sit down for a conversation about women’s empowerment with, of all people, Bill Clinton. Throw in a media blackout at the border, and you have a White House press office that is quickly becoming a story unto itself.

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[KeithD]

You hypocritical amnesiac Trumpettes are too, too funny.

 

[Likeandthey]

No, tell me. WHY didn’t the WH reveal what it knew about the J&J COVID vaccine screwup? Is this like the one where three damned souls walk into a bar...?