A confidential vaccine distribution plan formed under former President Donald Trump placed allied nations ahead of poorer ones with greater needs, according to Politico. The secret list, described by both current and former officials, was drawn up during the second half of 2020, sorting out priority order for other nations based on their strategic relationship with the U.S. First on the list were allies, including Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, and several European nations, despite the fact that these nations all had strong health-care systems, the financial resources to purchase their own doses, and infrastructure robust enough for distribution. Next were countries involved with the development of the vaccine. Nations with ties to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance were third, followed by all others not already categorized. “We thought that the categories themselves made sense at the time,” said Paul Mango, a former Trump official central to the administration’s vaccine effort, who did not work on the document but frequently led internal briefings on it. “The underserved countries were third on the list.”
