Secret Trump-era vaccine plan prioritized rich allies like Taiwan and Israel above poor nations which needed them more

Israel and Taiwan were put ahead of poorer nations in a vaccine distribution plan by the Trump administration.

According to five current and former officials, the document discussed prioritized countries it considered strategic allies.

The administration made a list before coronaviruses were approved for use.

Trump lost his bid to be re-elected and was out of office by the time the vaccines were in widespread use, so his team never executed the plan.

Israel, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, and some European countries were prioritized in the document.

Some of the nations were successful in securing their own vaccines.

There is a need to get vaccines to poorer nations to build immunity.

Europe and North America bought up a disproportionate share of the global vaccine supply due to being logistically harder in the first place.

The official who was involved in making the list was asked if there were concerns about deprioritizing poorer nations. They said that it was not really.

The official said that many of the countries identified as strategic allies might not be able to buy their own shots.

Multiple categories

There are multiple categories in the document. The countries that helped develop vaccines were included. Everybody else was included in the final segment.

The categories themselves made sense at the time, according to Paul Mango, the former deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. The third place was occupied by the underserved countries.

He was in charge of briefings to the White House, but he wasn't involved in making the list.

The list considered factors like how big an outbreak countries were dealing with. The process was aided by officials from the State Department, the Pentagon, the US Agency for International Development, and the Department of Homeland Security, according to one official.

Passed to Biden

The list was passed to Biden, but he turned it down.

The Biden administration doesn't use the previous administration's policy or the cited list to make vaccine sharing decisions, according to a Biden official.

The precise system for organizing vaccine distribution programs that depend on need was not made clear, but another Biden official told Politico that they organize vaccine distribution programs that depend on need.