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WASHINGTON – U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a COVID-19 vaccine live on television on Tuesday as the incoming Biden administration seeks to boost confidence in inoculation, even as it warns that it will be months before it is available to everyone.
Senator Harris, who is black and Asian-American, will become the second high-profile person of minority ethnic origin to receive the vaccine after Surgeon General Jerome Adams on December 18.
Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20, has said that he will make the fight against the coronavirus, which has infected more than 19 million Americans and killed more than 334,000, his top priority. He received his first injected dose of the vaccine live on television last week. Two doses are required for complete protection.
Biden’s team has placed special emphasis on the importance of encouraging vaccine distribution and inoculation in non-white groups, especially affected by the coronavirus.
Harris received the Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccine from a nurse wearing a mask and visor at a medical facility in predominantly black southeast Washington.
“I barely felt it,” Harris said, laughing, after receiving the injection in the upper left arm.
“I want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated, it’s relatively painless … it’s safe … it’s literally about saving lives. I trust the scientists.”
Biden is scheduled to give an update on the pandemic in Wilmington, Delaware, later Tuesday after a briefing with his COVID-19 advisory team and warn that infection rates and the number of deaths are expected to rise in the coming years. weeks, an official from his transition team told.
“He will be honest and direct with the American people about what is to come, and address the current administration’s lack of vaccination pace. He will also lay out his plan to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible,” the official said. , speaking on condition of anonymity.
Outgoing Republican President Donald Trump, who had COVID-19 in October, has frequently downplayed the severity of the pandemic and oversaw a response that many health experts say was disorganized, arrogant, and at times ignored the science behind it. disease transmission.
Biden will inherit the logistical challenges of distributing the vaccine to hundreds of millions of Americans, as well as the task of persuading people who fear its development was rushed to take it.
Biden and his team warned that the vaccine will take time to reach the general population and urged people to listen to the advice of medical experts to avoid infection with the coronavirus.
Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, told CBS News that the transition team did not yet have all the information they needed to understand the bottlenecks that hinder vaccine distribution.
He warned that the Trump administration may have set unrealistic expectations that everyone who wanted to get vaccinated would be able to do so by the end of June 2021.
“The realistic picture is to wait for it to drop before … enough people are getting vaccinated for us to get back to normal and for it to be summer before the general public actually accesses the vaccine,” he said.
Other Biden transition officials have echoed that caution.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, chosen by Biden as general surgeon, told NBC News last week that while it was possible for people in lower-risk categories to get the vaccine in late spring, it was more realistic to expect it to be. in mid-summer or early fall. before it reached the general population.
The United States has so far licensed two COVID-19 vaccines: one developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE and the other by Moderna. Others are being evaluated.
Separately on Tuesday, the Republican-controlled United States Senate is expected to address the possibility of increasing coronavirus relief checks for Americans to $ 2,000, a measure passed by the US-led House of Representatives. Democrats Monday after Trump called for the raise. Biden has said he favors the already approved $ 600 increase. – Reuters
