At 5:45 p.m. on May 12, the White House tweeted this totally bogus assertion that we told you about earlier claiming “[w]hen President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available”:
When President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available.
In the last 15 months, the economy has created 8.3M jobs and the unemployment rate stands at 3.6% — the fastest decline in unemployment to start a President's term ever recorded.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 12, 2022
And just a little over 24 hours later, they’ve finally issued a correction:
“We previously misstated that vaccines were unavailable in January 2021. We should have said that they were not widely available. Vaccines became available shortly before the President came into office. Since then, he’s responsible for fully vaccinating over 200 million people.”
We previously misstated that vaccines were unavailable in January 2021. We should have said that they were not widely available.
Vaccines became available shortly before the President came into office. Since then, he’s responsible for fully vaccinating over 200 million people. https://t.co/rHJ0GZ63Dy
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 13, 2022
Better late than never?
Wow! Ok, good. Slow in coming, but good for them for acknowledging it was a misstatement and not just that everyone was interpreting it wrong. https://t.co/oiwNvBYkTa
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) May 13, 2022
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But it’s still misleading. Nearly a million people a day getting vaccinated seems pretty “widely available” to us:
“White House “corrects” a lie with another lie. 1 million people were getting vaccinated every day the week Biden was inaugurated.”
White House “corrects” a lie with another lie.
1 million people were getting vaccinated every day the week Biden was inaugurated. https://t.co/BPup38QSOS
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) May 13, 2022
Here’s the receipt:
NY Gov. Cuomo asks to buy Covid vaccine directly from Pfizer amid nationwide dose shortages.
U.S. Vaccinations as of Jan 15:
•31.1 million distributed
•12.2 million administered
•Pace: ~900,000/day
•Goal was to inject 20 million by the end of 2020https://t.co/gaMp6RmN8v— The News with Shepard Smith (@thenewsoncnbc) January 18, 2021
Sure, there were issues, but the process was in place already before Biden even took office:
Quite the operation here @TheForum with vaccinations opening up here today. @CountyofLA @lapublichealth plan is to operate this vaccination site 7 days a week vaccinating around 4000 people per day. This is called a vaccination “megapod” a mega “point of distribution” of vaccine pic.twitter.com/0aHV0nswJB
— Jacki Karsh (@JackiKarsh) January 19, 2021
And in Florida:
In Florida, we are putting #SeniorsFirst and seeing results. Nearly 65% of all of our vaccinations to date have gone to seniors 65+ — more than any other state in the nation. pic.twitter.com/EKRPSNpRO6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 20, 2021
Over to you, White House. Time for another correction.
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