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(Reuters) – Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said they were willing to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus on television to ease any public skepticism about the safety of the new vaccines.
“I may end up getting it on TV or having it filmed, just so people know I trust this science,” Obama, a Democrat who left the White House in 2017, said in an interview with Sirius XM radio that aired Wednesday. . .
Bush, a Republican and Obama’s predecessor, is willing to get a vaccine on camera once the US Food and Drug Administration grants emergency approval, according to Freddy Ford, Bush’s chief of staff.
Clinton, a Democrat, “will definitely take a vaccine as soon as it is available, based on priorities determined by public health officials,” his spokesperson, Angel Ureña, wrote in an email. “And it will do so in a public setting if it helps to urge all Americans to do the same.”
A panel of external FDA advisers will meet on Dec. 10 to discuss whether to recommend emergency use authorization for a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc with German partner BioNTech that has been shown to be 95% effective in preventing disease. US health officials predict that the first vaccines could start days or weeks later.
Moderna Inc’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer’s and was nearly 95% effective in its pivotal trial, is expected to be reviewed a week later.
A significant minority of Americans are skeptical of the science behind vaccines and are wary of the record speed at which COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, although 58% of Americans told Gallup pollsters last month that they would receive a coronavirus vaccine, up from 50% in September.
US President Donald Trump, a Republican who recovered from a fight with COVID-19 earlier this year, has touted his administration’s involvement in funding the development of some vaccines, but the White House did not respond in response. immediate questions about his predecessor’s comments on Thursday.
Vice President Mike Pence’s office referred reporters to previous interviews in which Pence said he would be “proud to receive a vaccine the moment it becomes available.”
Ivanka Trump, Trump’s eldest daughter and senior White House adviser, said in September that she would be willing to receive a vaccine on the ABC talk show “The View.”
“I applaud these pronouncements to help assure the public that the vaccine is safe and effective,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday in response to news reports about the pledge of former presidents. “My offer is valid to do the same.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would likely take a vaccine as soon as one is available, albeit after those who need it first have access to it, such as front-line workers, the UN spokesman said Wednesday. Stephane Dujarric.
When asked if Guterres could take the vaccine publicly, Dujarric said: “We’ll see if he does it publicly. I don’t know if they want to see him publicly remove his shirt.”
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; Written by Jonathan Allen; Edited by Bill Berkrot)
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