Covid-19 Live Updates: Pence Receives Vaccine in Public Event
The vice president was given a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the White House. In the last five days, the U.S. has reported over 1 million new cases, and California reported just 3 percent availability of I.C.U. beds statewide on Thursday.
Vice President Mike Pence received a coronavirus vaccine on live television Friday morning at the White House, a measure that the Trump administration said was intended to “promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people.”
“I didn’t feel a thing — well done,” Mr. Pence said minutes after the vaccine was administered to him by a technician from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Promoting the vaccine and hailing the work of the Coronavirus Task Force that he leads, Mr. Pence called it a “truly inspiring day.”
He said, however, that “vigilance” was still necessary, and encouraged Americans to practice social distancing and wear face masks.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the symbolic day should remind the rest of the country to “step to the plate.” He also tried to reassure people who are skeptical of a vaccine, noting that the decision to call the new vaccine safe and effective “was not in the hands of the company, nor was it in the hands of the administration,” but in the hands of independent scientists and vaccinologists.
Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, also received the vaccine on Friday morning, as did Mr. Pence’s wife, Karen Pence. As the three took their seats on high stools, a technician asked them whether any were “pregnant or breastfeeding” or immunocompromised. They laughed when they said they were not.
Mr. Adams flashed a thumbs-up to the cameras after receiving his vaccine dose. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also attended the event, which was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to receive an injection on camera next week.
Notably absent from any planned public proceedings has been President Trump, who has made it clear that he is not scheduled to take a vaccine.
On Friday morning, Mr. Trump was not promoting Mr. Pence’s event, which his aides had asked all television networks to carry live. “The Russia Hoax becomes an even bigger lie!” the president tweeted about a minute before Mr. Pence’s event began.
Although the vaccine may provide a ray of hope as the coronavirus now kills about 3,000 people in the United States a day, the message on the virus from the administration’s highest officials remains muddled and often contradictory.
Mr. Pence received his first vaccine shot as he encourages other Americans to follow suit six months after he wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal under the headline “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave.’” This week he hosted a holiday party at his residence at which guests mingled in an outdoor tent and posed for pictures without masks, according to attendees.
Mr. Trump, who recovered from his own bout with the virus after being treated with experimental drugs at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, is described by aides and allies as preoccupied with the election results that he still refuses to accept, and has shown no interest in participating in any kind of public health message.