Joe Biden gets 1st shot of coronavirus vaccine

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Incoming president Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden get his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while broadcasted on TV.
• President Donald Trump is yet to confirm his plan when to have the vaccine despite advice from medical experts that he should get it soon.
• Other elected officials, such as vice president Mike Pence, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also receive their shots.

On Monday afternoon, Joe Biden, 46th president-elect was administered with his first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine live on TV.

In contrast, President Donald Trump has yet to announce when he will have the vaccine despite the advice of health care experts.

The incoming first lady, Jill Biden, also received the shot.

The 78-year-old Biden has repeatedly told reporters that he wants to get vaccinated in public to boost American’s trust in the immunization. Health experts explained to Yahoo News that the schedule was picked to allow

Biden to have the second dose in 21 days, just in time before his presidential inauguration, where he is expected to interact with hundreds of people.

Data from Johns Hopkins showed that the death toll of coronavirus in the U.S had exceeded 318,000. Biden is to take over a nation in a bleak state, with rising cases and fatalities countrywide.

Biden and his transition camp have emphasized that distributing the vaccine to as many Americans as possible is the main priority of the incoming administration starting January 20.

Numerous other top-ranking Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also got their first injections last week. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will get her dose the following week, as confirmed by the Biden camp.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence and wife Karen Pence received their first injections live on TV  the previous week, kicking off the triumph of Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s effort to speed up many COVID-19 vaccines. Pence was the chair of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force.

Remarkably absent from that record is Trump, who overcame COVID-19 early this year. It’s still not yet clear when the president was infected, along with other information about his sickness and how severe it was.

Notwithstanding the recommendation by the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,  Dr. Anthony Fauci, that both leaders, incoming and outgoing, be inoculated immediately, and from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams that all world leaders be vaccinated, Trump hasn’t made any commitments.

Officials from the current administration say the president, though, might consider.

Last week, spokeswoman for the White House, Kayleigh McEnany, said Trump is very much willing to take the vaccine, noting that he leaves the decision to his medical team.

According to the Washington Post, in his banters with aides, Trump has voiced his frustration over getting less credit on vaccine development, saying Joe Biden should not take the recognition. 

Source: AOL