In a letter sent to the Biden administration Wednesday, Amazon offered to assist with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, and meet his goal of inoculating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, Reuters reports.
The letter from Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, informed Biden that the company has "an agreement in place" with a healthcare provider to administer vaccines at its facilities. "We are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology, and communications capabilities and expertise to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts," Clark wrote.
Amazon representative Jodi Seth told NBC News that the company was "in touch" last month with the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration, but wouldn't divulge if a similar offer had been made to his team. Of course, it should be noted that Trump has never gotten along with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The animosity between the two came to a head in 2019 when Amazon filed a complaint accusing Trump of "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks" that led to the Department of Defense awarding their rival Microsoft with a $10 billion contract for a project known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure.
Trump's hostility towards Bezos is also fueled by the fact that the Amazon CEO also owns the Washington Post, which he considers to be part of the "fake news" media.
Clark suggested that Amazon's essential employees who were unable to work from home, which includes those who work at their fulfillment centers, AWS data centers, and Whole Foods Market stores should receive the vaccine "at the earliest appropriate time." Clark reportedly made the same request last month while speaking with the CDC.
