The Pentagon is pausing a plan to vaccinate detainees at Guantánamo Bay against COVID-19 after a backlash over the Defense Department’s priorities.
“No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated. We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby wrote on Twitter Saturday. “We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe.”
Forty wartime prisoners are detained at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as well as six men who have been cleared for release by an interagency government panel.
Earlier this week The New York Times reported that the Department of Defense had decided to offer the vaccine to prisoners starting next week.