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WASHINGTON – US Vice President Mike Pence received his COVID-19 vaccine live on television on Friday, seeking to shore up public support for vaccines after US deaths from coronavirus surpassed more than 50,000. 3,000 for the third consecutive day.
Pence, his wife Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams rolled up their sleeves and received injections from medical staff in white coats, becoming the highest-profile recipients to receive the vaccine publicly.
“I didn’t feel anything. Well done,” said Pence, leader of the White House coronavirus task force.
They were injected with the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE that the Food and Drug Administration authorized for emergency use a week ago.
The FDA was expected to approve a second vaccine for emergency use on Friday, this one from Moderna Inc.
After answering routine questions about their health, the three of them injected themselves into the old executive office building on the White House campus, sitting in front of a blue curtain and screens that read “Safe and Effective” and “Operation Warp Speed.” . “
They could be followed by a parade of political leaders, part of a campaign to overcome public skepticism about the safety of vaccines, which underwent large-scale clinical trials and scientific review.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama volunteered for public vaccines, and President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office Jan. 20, will receive his next week, his aides said.
US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, appointed to be Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he would get vaccinated as soon as he could and was waiting for the doses to arrive at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“I hope it’s in the next few days,” Fauci told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday.
While outgoing President Donald Trump has yet to embrace messages about social distancing and wearing masks, he has encouraged people to get vaccinated and championed his administration’s Operation Warp Speed program to promote development and the distribution of vaccines.
But Trump, who survived a fight with COVID-19 a few weeks before losing the Nov.3 election to Biden, has yet to announce his plans to receive an injection.
Trump in a tweet prior to the vaccine event said Moderna’s vaccine had been approved and would ship immediately, although the FDA has yet to publicly announce a decision. Pence said at the White House event that approval was expected within hours.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Thursday that 5.9 million doses of the Moderna vaccine had been assigned to state governments and were ready for distribution across the country starting this weekend. .
Both vaccines require two doses, given three to four weeks apart, for each person inoculated.
The United States reported a record 239,903 new cases on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number above 17 million since the coronavirus pandemic began nearly a year ago.
The death toll in the United States now exceeds 311,000.
Health experts have warned of a deepening crisis this winter as intensive care units (ICUs) fill up and hospital beds overflow down corridors. Hospitalizations in the United States have set a new record in each of the past 20 days, approaching 114,000 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally. – Reuters
