Washington, Dec. 17, (dpa/GNA) – US Vice President Mike Pence will publicly receive a Covid-19 vaccination at the White House on Friday to “build confidence” among the American people as the country begins a massive inoculation campaign.
Pence’s announcement Thursday comes as President Donald Trump has not said when he will be vaccinated or if he will do publicly.
Trump is “absolutely open to taking the vaccine” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday, adding that the president’s “priority” is for front-line workers to receive the vaccine.
Pence’s office said the vice president along with Second Lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams will be inoculated at the White House on Friday.
Anthony Fauci, the US’ top infectious disease specialist, said earlier this week president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris along with Trump should get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as quickly as possible.
The death toll in the United States related to the novel coronavirus has now topped 300,000, and the country has reported nearly 17 million total cases of infection, the highest number of any country in the world.
GNA