Joe Biden receives Covid-19 vaccine on live TV, Kamala Harris to wait a week

US President-elect Joe Biden has received the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, following the current vice president and congressional leaders. His running mate Kamala Harris will reportedly wait for her shot.

Biden was vaccinated in a photo-op at a hospital in Delaware on Monday afternoon, as his wife Jill looked on.

The first vaccinations in the US began last week, with healthcare workers considered the highest priority.

Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received vaccines at a White House event on Friday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) also lined up for their shots the same day.

Harris will “likely” get the vaccine a week after Biden, Reuters reported citing a Biden-Harris transition official.

Both US-made vaccines – one by Pfizer and the other by Moderna – were developed and approved in record time at taxpayer expense, in what the Trump administration dubbed ‘Operation Warp Speed’. While a number of prominent Democrats insisted they were uncomfortable with the vaccines given their development and distribution by the Trump administration, Biden apparently didn’t have a problem with that.

“The administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground,” Biden said after receiving the jab. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci will reportedly be vaccinated on Tuesday, at an event held by the National Institutes of Health.

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