Published 12:13 IST, December 15th 2020
Pentagon chief Christopher Miller receives COVID-19 vaccine, says 'It didn't hurt'
Pentagon Chief 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!”.
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The US acting defense 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 Defense. 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.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said at a conference that the combatant commands will send a” message" to push the eligible personnel to take the vaccines in the initial phase of the rollout. Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman Gen. John Hyten, and Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman Ramón Colón-López are among some of the top commanders in the US military to publicly get the shot, he informed. Many volunteered, Hoffman stressed. US recorded nearly 300,000 COVID-related fatalities as the country started dispensing Pfizer's COVID-19 shots on December 14 in a campaign, with the very first vaccine administered Monday morning in Queens, state officials said at a press conference.
"When @realDonaldTrump announced Operation Warp Speed in May, doubters thought it couldn't be done. Today, as the DOD begins the vaccine's nationwide rollout, I hope all Americans will roll up their sleeves for a little stick to end our biggest challenge since WWII." A/SD Miller pic.twitter.com/hNWaJF5dqs
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) December 15, 2020
Doubled order of Moderna
Earlier as New York registered more than 35,000 cases, 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 Gov. Andrew M. 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.
12:14 IST, December 15th 2020