Vice President-elect Kamala Harris publicly took the recently approved coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday.
The elected vice president received her first of two injections of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the United Medical Center, in the southeastern part of the District of Columbia, in an event broadcast live on the three major national cable news networks.
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“I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine. It is relatively painless, it happens very quickly. It is safe,” emphasized Harris after receiving his injection.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris receives the Modern COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Patricia Cummings, Tuesday, December 29, 2020, at United Medical Center, in southeastern Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)
The vice president-elect emphasized: “It is about saving lives. Literally saving lives. I trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine for everyone. So I ask everyone, when it is their turn, to take vaccinated. It’s about saving your life, the lives of your family members and the life of your community. “
Harris made headlines during the September general election campaign when he said he would not take President Trump’s word when it came to the reliability of any coronavirus vaccine that would be produced before the November presidential election. Trump repeatedly joked that a vaccine could be approved before the November election.
A month later, in a heated debate with Vice President Mike Pence, Harris repeated his argument that he would only get the vaccine if it was approved by scientific leaders, including infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“If public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if doctors tell us that we should take it, I will be the first in line to take it, for sure,” said Harris in the debate. “But if Donald Trump tells us that we should accept, I will not accept.”
Pence fired back, accusing that “the fact that you continue to undermine the public’s confidence in a vaccine, if a vaccine comes out during the Trump administration, I think it’s unfair, and Senator, I just ask you to stop playing politics with people’s life. “
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California’s vice president-elect and senator is the latest political leader to take the initiative publicly, in an effort to make Americans more confident about vaccination.
President-elect Joe Biden was vaccinated eight days ago at an event at a hospital near his home in Wilmington, Del., Which was broadcast live on national TV.
“I am doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when available, to get the vaccine. There is nothing to worry about,” said Biden after receiving his injection.
And a few days earlier, Pence called it a “medical miracle” when he received his vaccination at an event that was also televised on national television. He emphasized that the vaccine was “safe and effective”, as his wife, second lady Karen Pence, and surgeon general Jerome Adams joined him.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell also publicized their recent injections as part of the campaign to convince skeptical Americans that vaccines are safe. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama said they would get the vaccine publicly to also inspire confidence among Americans.
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Trump, who was hospitalized with COVID in October, did not say when he would be vaccinated.
A national Fox News survey earlier this month indicated that 61% of Americans plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19, up from 54% in September. Among the 28% who do not intend to be vaccinated, the main reasons include that their development was hastened (23%), lack of confidence that it will work (21%), opposition to vaccines in general (13%), distrust of the government (10 %) and concern about side effects (9%).
Public opinion polls indicate that minority communities are more skeptical about how to get the vaccine.
Harris, who is the first woman, the first African American and the first Asian American to be elected vice president, got the vaccine in Anacostia, which is a predominantly minority community in the country’s capital.
She emphasized that “we have hospitals, medical centers and clinics like this, across the country that are attended by people who understand the community, who often come from the community and who administer reliable health care all year round or else I want to remind people that it is right in your community where you can get the vaccine, where you will get the vaccine, by people you may know. “
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It has been 15 days since the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech were injected into healthcare professionals, who are at the forefront in the battle against a pandemic that claimed the lives of more than 335,000 Americans since the virus swept the country for the first time in February and March, with almost 20 million cases of the virus reported.
The vaccine was authorized days before by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use, and the first doses were distributed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Days later, a vaccine produced by Moderna was approved for emergency use by the FDA.
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Biden, during his vaccination, gave credit to the Trump administration, saying, “I think the administration deserves some credit for getting us off the ground with Operation Warp Speed.”
Warp Speed is the name of the federal program implemented by the White House this year to work with leading drug makers to produce a coronavirus vaccine.