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As First Americans Receive Coronavirus Vaccine, Warp Speed Doubters’ Tweets Come Back To Haunt

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As the first people in the United States begin to receive a long-awaited coronavirus vaccine well before the end of 2020, a few Twitter users with long memories were quick to dig up and repost tweets and statements from Operation Warp Speed doubters that did not age well.

Operation Warp Speed, a blending of the public and private sectors with the express goal of drastically shortening the time it takes to research, test, approve and distribute a vaccine, was announced in April, only a month into the pandemic.

With Pfizer’s vaccine already approved for emergency use, Moderna’s on the way and several more to follow, experts now say that anyone who wants to be vaccinated should be able to do so by the end of May, with several million doses available to first responders and the most vulnerable by the end of the year.

When President Donald Trump claimed in May that a vaccine would be available by the end of the year, MSNBC analyst Dr. Irwin Redlener went on air to call the claim “preposterous.”

MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin posted an NBC “fact check” citing experts who claimed it would take a “miracle” to get the vaccine rolling by year’s end.

PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor also went on record to quote the “experts.”

As did CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell.

Quoting an ABC fact check, Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross claimed the Trump administration was “lying” to Americans.

Former New York Times labor reporter Steve Greenhouse and Bloomberg opinion columnist Tim O’Brien had their doubts in August.

Responding to a Trump speech, Vox’s Aaron Rupar wrote we were “not close” in November.

NBC News analyst Howard Fineman had his doubts.

As did Charlotte Clymer.

The Daily Kos insisted that Trump’s claim about quick distribution had been “roundly debunked” in October.

Newshour’s Meredith Lee and Politico’s Alice Ollstein reported in September and October that Trump had even disagreed with heads of the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insisting the vaccine would be available by years end.

Here are several more:

Finally, Politifact “fact-checked” Trump in April, claiming the vaccine would take at least a “year and a half to roll out.” (RELATED: Dr. Anthony Fauci Predicts When The Face Masks Might Come Off)