Thread by @KatherineEban

SCOOP: My latest @VanityFair investigation tells the inside story of how the #COVID19 vaccine rollout devolved into chaos: turf wars, infighting, a muzzled @CDCgov and ideological embrace of a hands-off fed gov't role. vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/h… /1

Gen. Perna focused intently on photo-op of "N-hour sequence," delivery trucks rolling from warehouse within 24 hours of @US_FDA authorization. In one tense meeting, his staff had to explain that CDC had a different metric for success: getting shots into arms. /2

Of the roughly dozen board meetings #OperationWarpSpeed held, only 1 dealt w logistics of vaccine administration. @CDCgov official @DrNancyM_CDC "warned and warned" of impending chaos, even as CDC advised that operational plans were "close hold. /3

CDC Director Robert Redfield urged President Trump to promise only that 4 million Americans would be vaccinated by years end, to err on side of underpromising. Trump insisted on the 100 million #, claiming he had better info. /4

When @realDrBirx asked granular questions about getting shots in arms, a Warp Speed leader told her, "If you're questioning my judgment, maybe you should do this." The military focus on volume/speed, not vaccinations, best captured by this poster. /5

Expert insight from @ashishkjha: “It’s very clear that the feds really didn’t know or care whether states were going to be able to do this or not. If states can’t do it, we can always blame them. And that has been the strategy from the very beginning.” /END