In the US, they changed their minds to vaccinate against COVID-19 prisoners in Guantanamo prison. The suspension of the plan was announced by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on his page at Twitter .
At the proposal of the US Department of Defense, 40 prisoners of Guantanamo were to be vaccinated, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of preparing the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.
“None of the Guantanamo inmates have been vaccinated. We are suspending this plan as we review the convoy protection protocols. We remain committed to keeping our troops safe,” Kirby wrote.
As noted by RIA Novosti, Republican lawmakers criticized the plan of the Ministry of Defense. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy noted that US President Joe Biden did not say that the plan to fight the coronavirus includes “vaccinating terrorists before most Americans.” Congresswoman Eliza Stefanik, in turn, called the priority vaccination of prisoners instead of the elderly and veterans “unforgivable”.
The number of people infected with coronavirus in Guantanamo is unknown, at the beginning of the pandemic, the military reported two cases of infection at the base. After that, the Ministry of Defense stopped disclosing such data.
Guantanamo Prison is a camp for persons suspected by the US authorities of various crimes, mainly terrorism, waging war on the side of the enemy. It is located at a permanently leased naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
On January 21, 2009, the then US President Barack Obama signed an order to dissolve the prison. The camp was supposed to close within a year, but the decision was not enforced. In early 2018, US President Donald Trump signed an order to preserve the military prison at Guantanamo.