Published 07:45 IST, December 16th 2020
Fauci puts in 'strong recommendation' for Trump, Biden to get COVID-19 vaccine at earliest
Meanwhile, following the vaccine roll-out, the US acting defence secretary and Pentagon chief Christopher Miller on December 14 were administered a shot on TV.
America’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has said that it was imperative that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden get the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest. Speaking at an interview with ABC network, Fauci reckoned that his "strong recommendation" would be to get Biden "fully protected" as he entered Presidency in January. His remarks come a day after America began mass vaccination of Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
Calling Donald Trump a "very important figure right now" the director of NIAID stated that he should get the vaccine to be "doubly" sure he is protected. Fauci’s remarks came in reference to Trump earlier contracting the COVID-19 virus and declaring success in beating it. A day earlier, Trump had posted a tweet asserting that White House staffers should receive the vaccine later in the inoculation programme. Talking about himself, he stated that he would receive the vaccine at its designated time.
Pentagon chief gets vaccinated
Meanwhile, following the vaccine roll-out, the US acting defence secretary and Pentagon chief Christopher Miller on December 14 were administered a shot of the newly authorized Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine live on camera. The jab was given at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., according to a video shared by the Department of Defence.
In the video, Miller can be seen encouraging the Americans to take the vaccine as he jokes, "That's all?! Oh come on! That did not hurt at all!". The Pentagon, meanwhile, informed in a press release that it planned to inoculate the military’s top commanders live to encourage service members to get vaccinated.
Earlier on the same day, the director of critical care nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center was administered the vaccine shot at 9:20 a.m. during a news conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The recipient nurse encouraged and paid tribute to the essential workers and medics as the US hit the grim milestone of 300,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, the US Health and Human Services announced in a statement that the Trump administration doubled the order of the total vaccine shots it initially committed to purchasing from the pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. in an order worth $1.65 billion to fight the pandemic.
Image Credits: AP
Updated 07:45 IST, December 16th 2020