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While President Biden's team is still trying to locate upwards of 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Defense Department was ordered to offer the vaccine to Gitmo detainees as early as next week, officials reported.

First responders and the elderly, as those considered high risk individuals, were given the go ahead to register for the vaccination. This, much like the Affordable Care Act Insurance portal issues years ago, hasn't gone as smoothly as hoped. Lack of appointments, available vaccine doses, and planning caused a great deal of backup in the process.

While the Trump administration had not specified whether the prisoners would be vaccinated, the Pentagon, under President Joe Biden, has decided to allow willing detainees to be vaccinated.

The New York Times reported, the 40 Gitmo detainees could start receiving the first two required doses "on a voluntary basis" as soon as Monday.

Clayton G. Trivett Jr., a prosecutor in the case against five prisoners charged with conspiring in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, told defense attorneys in a letter on Thursday that “an official in the Pentagon has just signed a memo approving the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine to the detainee population in Guantánamo.”

The 6,000 residents at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo began receiving vaccines on Jan 8, and offering the vaccines to the detainees was the next step in the process.

A lack of vaccinations has reportedly been a hurdle for the Pentagon in continuing with legal cases against those charged with war crimes. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, seen as one of the masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks, will be provided the opportunity to take the vaccine.

The New York the Times reported:

It is not known how many people at Guantánamo have been infected with the Coronavirus. Early in the pandemic, the military reported two cases there, both believed to be sailors. The Defense Department then halted the disclosure of data about specific installations.

Lack of vaccinations has been a major obstacle to resuming war crimes hearings at the base's Camp Justice Compound. It was not immediately known whether the defendants in the Sept. 11 case, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, would consent to be vaccinated.

For all Americans put behind the alleged terrorists and a rising number of elites who paid to jump the vaccination line, President Biden and Dr. Fauci have urged those waiting to wear masks, in some cases, even two or three at a time.

“The brutal truth is, it’s going to take months before we can the majority of Americans vaccinated – months,” Biden said. “In the next few months, masks, not vaccines, are the best defense against COVID-19. Experts say that wearing masks from now just until April would save 50,000 lives that otherwise would pass away if we don’t wear these masks.”