Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton vow to publicly receive Covid vaccine
- 'If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it, Obama said
Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton as well as President-elect Joe Biden said that they were willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on television in order to ease any public skepticism over the safety of new Covid-19 vaccines.
In an interview with SiriusXM radio, Obama said that he would be inoculated if White House Covid-19 task force member and the nation's leading infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci signs off on a Covid-19 vaccine.
"If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it," Obama said.
"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it," he said.
"I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid," Obama said.
Freddy Ford, Bush's chief of staff, told CNN the former president also wanted to help promote vaccination.
"First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations," Ford told CNN.
"Then, president Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera."
Clinton, a Democrat, will "definitely take a vaccine as soon as available to him, based on the priorities determined by public health officials," his press secretary, Angel Urena, wrote in an email. "And he will do it in a public setting if it will help urge all Americans to do the same."
Later in the day, Biden told CNN in an interview that he, too, would be willing to be vaccinated in public after government approval of vaccines, specifically saying he would rely on Fauci to say it was safe.
"It's important to communicate to the American people it's safe," the 78-year-old said. "It's safe to do this."
He also lauded the three former presidents for their commitment, saying they had "set the model as to what should be done."
Vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved by US authorities shortly.
Meanwhile, Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, which employs similar technology as Pfizer's and was nearly 95% effective in its pivotal trial, is expected to be reviewed a week later.
With agency inputs
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Business NewsNewsWorldJoe Biden, Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton vow to publicly receive Covid vaccine
First Published:4 Dec 2020, 03:15 PM IST
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