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WASHINGTON: Former United States Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as President-elect Joe Biden, volunteer to bring a coronavirus vaccine on camera if it helps build public confidence.
Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if America’s leading infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, approves a COVID-19 vaccine.
“If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you against COVID, absolutely, I will take it,” Obama said.
“I promise you that when it’s made for people with less risk, I’ll take it,” he said.
“I may end up taking it on TV or filming, just so people know that I trust this science, and what I don’t trust is getting COVID,” Obama said.
READ: Global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 1.5 million as nations plan vaccine
Freddy Ford, Bush’s chief of staff, told CNN that the former president also wanted to help promote vaccination.
“First, vaccines must be considered safe and administered to priority populations,” Ford told CNN.
“Then President Bush will get in line for his and he will gladly do it in front of the camera.”
Angel Urena, Clinton’s press secretary, told CNN that the former president would also be willing to receive a vaccine in public on television.
READ: US COVID-19 Deaths Exceed 3,100 in a Single Day for the First Time
Later that day, Biden told CNN in an interview that he, too, would be willing to be vaccinated in public after government approval of the vaccines, specifically saying that he would trust Fauci to say it was safe.
“It is important to communicate to the American people that it is safe,” said the 78-year-old. “It is safe to do this.”
He also praised the three former presidents for their commitment and said they had “set the standard for what should be done.”
The vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved by US authorities shortly.
A senior science official said Wednesday that the United States expects to have immunized 100 million people by the end of February.
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