Biden, Fauci show the way to Americans, get COVID-19 jabs
US: US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe.
The President-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his Delaware home, hours after his wife, Jill Biden, did the same. The injections came the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, will start arriving in states. It joins Pfizer’s in the nation’s arsenal against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m ready,” said Mr Biden, who was administered the dose at a hospital in Newark, Delaware, and declined the option to count to three before the needle was inserted into his left arm. “I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it’s available to take the vaccine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Meanwhile, the United States’ top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci received his COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday along with other senior officials and six health workers at a live streamed event at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“I want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated so that we could have a veil of protection over this country, that would end this pandemic,” he added.
The 79-year-old, who continues to practice as a physician, was among the first Americans to receive injections developed by Moderna and the NIH’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which he has led since 1984.
A new poll showed Americans’ willingness to take a coronavirus vaccine has jumped since the first two were authorized.
The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, carried out Wednesday through Sunday, showed 46 percent said they were willing to take the vaccine as soon as they can -- a significant jump on the 26 percent who answered similarly in late October.
A further 32 percent said they would wait for others to get the shots before they do so themselves.
Twenty percent remain unpersuaded. Experts say 70-75 percent of the population will need to be vaccinated to achieve population immunity. - AFP
source http://www.dailynews.lk/2020/12/24/world/236939/biden-fauci-show-way-americans-get-covid-19-jabs
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