Newsman: President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and said the Trump administration deserved “some credit” for Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s vaccine program, and their role in making coronavirus vaccinations possible. The President-elect urged Americans in the meantime to listen to public health experts and wear masks and socially distance and to not travel unless absolutely necessary during the holiday season. Biden noted that the vaccine rollout was in beginning stages and cautioned Americans about the long road ahead.
“Because we’re still in the thick of this,” Biden continued. “It’s one thing to have the vaccine show up at a hospital; it’s another thing to get the vaccine from that vial into a needle, into an arm.”
The vaccination was live on television on Monday afternoon. President-elect’s took the shot in his left arm. “We owe these folks an awful lot,” Biden said, thanking those involved in the vaccine’s development and distribution and front-line health care workers.
Reassuring Americans of the vaccine’s safety Biden said, “I also think that it’s worth saying that this is, is great hope. I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it’s available, to take the vaccine. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m looking forward to the second shot; so is Jill,” Biden said.
Tabe Mase, who is a nurse practitioner and the head of employee health, services at the hospital, administered the shot in president-elect’s arm at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware according to the Biden transition team.
“She’s had her shot earlier today. She loves shots, I know,” he said, taking his wife’s hand as she laughed.
Biden’s vaccination came one week after the first doses of the vaccine were injected into health care workers, and days after the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for a second coronavirus vaccine.
Incoming first lady Jill Biden received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine just prior to the President-elect on Monday at the same hospital, and it was administered by the same nurse practitioner, according to Biden spokesman Michael LaRosa. The transition team has not provided details about when the Bidens will receive the second dose.
Biden’s transition spokesperson Jen Psaki has said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, would receive their vaccinations next week. Psaki told reporters that Biden and Harris were staggering the vaccine at the recommendation of medical experts. The reason could be that if Biden and Harris experience the reported side effects, such as a headache or fever, they would not have them on the same day.
However the President Donald J Trump has not received the vaccine yet and won’t be administered one until it is recommended by the White House medical team, according White House official. The President is still receiving the benefits of the monoclonal antibody cocktail he was given after he tested positive for Covid-19 this fall, the official said, but he is likely to get his shot once it is recommended by the medical team.
