(CNN) – US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to receive his first COVID-19 vaccine early next week, CNN discovered. Biden plans to get vaccinated in public.
“I don’t want to lead the way, but I want to make sure I show the American people it’s safe to get vaccinated,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday.
“If I do, I’ll do it in public so everyone can see how I do it,” said the president-elect.
People familiar with the plans say Biden will likely have a chance next week. The delay is not due to hesitation, those present say, but due to the logistics of giving the injection in a public setting.
Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month that he would be “happy” to get a coronavirus vaccine as soon as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost infectious disease expert, said it was safe. He added that he would receive the injection in a public place to show his confidence in her. Elected Vice President Kamala Harris also said in the interview that she would receive the vaccine.
Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday that he is convinced that Biden and Harris should be vaccinated “as soon as possible”.
Three former presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – have said they would publicly receive the coronavirus vaccine as a means of demonstrating its safety and efficacy.
Trump administration officials have discussed how and when President Donald Trump might get a coronavirus vaccine, but have not yet made a final decision about planning his vaccine, a person familiar with the plan previously told CNN.
The US started to inject the coronavirus vaccine
Health workers, who are at the forefront of the pandemic, received the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday. Last week, the vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use. The first doses were delivered to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Vaccine advisers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities be the first to be vaccinated. It will likely take months for the vaccine to be widely available to the rest of the population.
The FDA is also considering emergency use authorization for Moderna’s candidate vaccine.
Biden has said his government is aiming to distribute 100 million vaccine injections, enough to cover 50 million people, in his first 100 days in office. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses administered several weeks apart to achieve 95% efficacy.
The President-elect has also pledged to sign a mandate for mandatory use of the mask on his first day in office (he will ask Americans to wear a mask for the first 100 days) and has said he will also prioritize efforts to keep children return to school safely.