Pence To Publicly Get COVID-19 Vaccine At White House

Vice President Mike Pence will publicly take the COVID-19 vaccine Friday at the White House.

He and second lady Karen Pence, along with Surgeon General Jerome Adams, will publicly get the shot to "promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people," the White House said in a statement Wednesday.

Additional details about the event are expected to be released later.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last week authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the United States, and the first doses of Pfizer's vaccine were administered Monday. The vaccine, which requires two doses, showed an efficacy rate of 95% during clinical trials.

Moderna has also applied for emergency use authorization from the FDA for its vaccine candidate, which has an efficacy rate of more than 94% and also requires two doses. An FDA panel is meeting Thursday to consider if that vaccine should be recommended for authorization as well.

High-risk populations, including health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, are recommended to be among the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine before doses are expected to be widely available to the public by late spring or early summer.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, said earlier this week that President Trump and Pence should take the vaccine.

"You still want to protect people who are very important to our country right now," he said Tuesday on "Good Morning America." "Even though the president himself was infected and he has likely antibodies that likely would be protective, we're not sure how long that protection lasts so to be doubly sure, I would recommend that he get vaccinated as well the vice president."

Trump has not specified when he will take the coronavirus vaccine or whether he will do so publicly -- but has said he'll take the shot "at the appropriate time."

He recently scrapped a plan to prioritize White House staff for vaccination.

Fauci also recommended this week that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris be vaccinated against the virus as soon as possible.

"This is a person who very soon will be the president of the United States," he told "Good Morning America." "Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will very soon be the vice president of the United States. For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can."

Officials with the Biden-Harris Transition team told CNN and NBC News that Biden plans to take the vaccine as soon as next week.

The former vice president also said he will get vaccinated publicly.

"I don't want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take," Biden told reporters Wednesday, according to CNN.

He and Pence join a list of others who have said they'll get the shot in a public setting to encourage others to get vaccinated.

Fauci has told The New York Times he'll "get vaccinated publicly, in the public space, so that people can see me getting vaccinated" when the shot is available to him.

Three former presidents -- Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton -- have all said they're willing to take the vaccine in a public setting.

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