President-elect Biden Receives Vaccine, Encourages all Americans to Do the Same

By Yehudit Garmaise    “I’m ready,” President-elect Joe Biden said on live television today as he was getting his first shot of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 at the ChristianaCare Wilmington Hospital near his home base in Wilmington, Del.

   As Biden was getting his vaccine, he graciously paid respect to President Donald Trump and everything he and his administration did to get multiple vaccines for COVID-19 developed and delivered in record time. 

   “The [current] administration deserves some credit, getting this off the ground, with Operation Warp Speed,” President-elect Biden said. “There is great hope.”

   In addition to voicing gratitude for Operation Warp Speed, Biden also effusively thanked the researchers who developed the vaccine and the healthcare workers who work tirelessly to take care of Americans deluged by this pandemic.

    “We owe these folks an awful lot: the scientists, the frontline workers, and all the people who were the ones who did the clinical work,” Biden said. “It is just amazing. We owe you big.”  

   Although Biden said last week that he didn’t want to “get ahead of the line,” of others who also want to take the COVID vaccine, he did want to “make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take.”

   Today, Biden said, “I am doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it is available to take the vaccine. 

   “There is nothing to worry about. I am looking forward to the second shot, and so is Jill, who had her shot earlier today. 

   “This is just the beginning. It is one thing to get the vaccine out and now Moderna is out on the road being delivered as well, but it is going to take time."

   Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, incoming Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will not be given their first doses of the vaccine until next week to avoid both Biden and Harris experiencing side effects simultaneously, said the incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

   Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence were given their first rounds of the vaccine on Friday, but because of the experimental treatments President Trump was given when he was sick with COVID, his doctors have recommended that he wait least 90 days to take the vaccine to avoid any potential negative drug interactions.

Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President