US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President Mike Pence are set to receive the COVID-19 vaccine soon.
According to reports, Biden will receive the vaccine publicly as early as next week.
Biden said on Tuesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, advised him to get the vaccine “sooner than later”. Biden has said that he wants to keep front-line health care workers and vulnerable people as the top priority as the vaccine is rolled out throughout the country.
But he’s also noted the importance of him getting the vaccine publicly to build confidence among Americans to get vaccinated. “I don’t want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take,” Biden said.
The White House says that Pence and his wife, Karen, will receive the vaccine publicly on Friday.
The event, due to be held at the White House, comes in the first week of a mass vaccination program aimed at stopping the surging coronavirus pandemic, which has already killed more than 300,000 Americans.
In addition to the Pences, the vaccine will be administered at the same time to Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the lead public health official in the country.
The public display illustrates the seriousness of the challenges facing the authorities not only in distributing vaccines across the huge country, but overcoming skeptism after months of mixed messaging from President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump is also “absolutely open to taking the vaccine”. However, since he recently recovered from a bout of COVID-19, he is thought to be currently immune. “He will receive the vaccine as soon as his medical team determines it’s best. But his priority is frontline workers, those in long-term care facilities,” McEnany said.
