The mainstream media has dropped the ball time and time again in its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic (see: the lab-leak theory, New York governor Cuomo’s COVID failures, criticisms of Florida governor DeSantis’s COVID response). However, this week, it picked up a new critic: the Biden administration.

Last week, Ben Wakana, the White House deputy director of strategic communications and engagement, who works on the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team, lambasted the New York Times and the Washington Post over their coverage of COVID-19 “breakthrough cases” in vaccinated individuals.

The Washington Post caught heat on social media from Wakana, and a number of experts, after it published a story about a “massive” outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., among vaccinated individuals. Of 965 cases that scientists traced to gatherings in Provincetown, no deaths were reported, and seven people were hospitalized.

“Vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected in a massive Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak, pivotal CDC study finds,” the paper wrote in a tweet.

“Completely irresponsible,” Wakana replied. “3 days ago the CDC made clear that vaccinated individuals represent a VERY SMALL amount of transmission occurring around the country. Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated. Unreal to not put that in context.”

Meanwhile, Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggested in a tweet that “journalism professors should study this headline for how something can be technically accurate but wildly misleading—in ways that have dangerous implications for public health.”

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, reiterated that the outbreak in Provincetown was further proof of the vaccine’s efficacy against severe disease and death.

“I know I sound like a broken record but here’s the thing,” he wrote. “The vaccines are largely working as expected. We had an outbreak in P-town with lots of vaccinated folks infected. No one died. Very few got sick. And things have returned to normal. This is how vaccines work folks.”

Wakana also criticized a tweet by the New York Times that said, “Breaking News: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal C.D.C. report said.”

“VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG,” Wakana responded.

CNN reported that the White House is “frustrated with what it views as alarmist, and in some instances flat-out misleading, news coverage about the Delta variant,” according to two senior Biden administration officials.

“The media’s coverage doesn’t match the moment,” one official said. “It has been hyperbolic and frankly irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy. The biggest problem we have is unvaccinated people getting and spreading the virus.