78-year-old US President-elect Joe Biden will be vaccinated against COVID-19 on Monday at a public event to try to dispel skepticism about the substance’s safety, his spokesman announced Friday.
“On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden and (his wife) Jill Biden will receive a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Delaware,” said Jen Psaki.
The vaccination will be “publicly,” he noted, “to send the message that the vaccine is” safe. “
Future Vice President Kamala Harris will be vaccinated the following week.
Current Vice President Mike Pence, who has been coordinating the fight against the pandemic from the White House for the past few months, received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on Friday at an event that was broadcast live on television.
“Building confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning,” the vice president said after being vaccinated with his wife in the White House.
The president of the Democratic wing in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, was also vaccinated on Friday. “Today, with confidence in science, (…) I received the covid-19 vaccine,” the 80-year-old lawmaker wrote on Twitter.
The United States was preparing this Friday to approve a second vaccine against covid-19, that of the US laboratory Moderna, a week after the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine – the vaccine injected into Pence – received approval received from the Food Administration and US Drugs (FDA).