Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (DOD) said they were set to voluntarily administer the COVID-19 vaccine to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp (Gitmo).
The New York Post reported that the Pentagon would receive shipments of the vaccine starting on January 29. Terry Adirim, President Biden’s appointed Principal Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, signed the order on January 27. Donald Trump Jr expressed his outraged on the matter via Twitter.
This decision sparked outrage on social media, especially from right-wing personalities and politicians, and from New Yorkers as one of the prisoners is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He is the suspected leader of the 9/11 terror attack and could’ve potentially received the vaccine before U.S. citizens.
Former NYC Fire Commissioner during 9/11, Tom Von Essen, told the New York Post, “You can’t make this up. The ridiculousness of what we get from our government. They will run the vaccine down to those lowlifes at Guantanamo Bay before every resident of the United States of America gets it is the theater of the absurd.”
On Saturday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced via Twitter that there would be a pause on administering the vaccine to prisoners. He said he wants to “keep our troops safe.”
There are no reports of any COVID-19 outbreaks among the prisoners at this time. On January, 8 Gitmo personnel and troops began receiving vaccines.
According to Fox News, two DOD officials told them that the lack of vaccinations among the inmates made the war crime hearing prosecutions difficult.
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About the Author:
Gabriel E. Montalvo is a second-generation Ecuadorian American living in the progressive stronghold of Queens, NYC. As it might not come as a surprise, he used to believe in Anti-American left-wing/Communistic victimized ideologies until his high school journalism teacher introduced him to Ayn Rand and John Stossel's teachings. Gabriel realized he was lied to about the truth of the Democratic Party, with doing more research, found his home in Conservative-Libertarian values, and became a registered Republican at the age of 18. He co-hosts the Empire State Conservatives Podcast, is a writer, the Activism Chairman of the New York Young Republican Club, and a political strategist. Gabriel was also the youngest state chapter Vice-Chairman in the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's history serving New York for a year and is currently the youngest ever appointed Northeastern Regional Director.