In an effort to boost confidence among the people, US President-elect Joe Biden will publicly receive the COVID-19 vaccine injection on Monday, ahead of its wide distribution next year.
Biden, during his campaign, has vowed to make the fight against the coronavirus, which killed more than 300,000 Americans and infected over 17 million. It may be mentioned that at age 78, Biden is in a high-risk group for the contagious respiratory disease.
President Donald Trump on the other hand, who lost the recently concluded US elections, frequently downplayed the severity of the pandemic and oversaw a response health experts say was disorganized and cavalier and sometimes ignored the science behind disease transmission. He was infected with the virus in October along with multiple members of his inner circle and the White House staff.
Even as daily COVID deaths soared, the outgoing president has been focusing on trying to overturn his election loss in recent weeks claiming widespread electoral fraud.
Furthermore, after the US authorized a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE on December 11, distribution of a second approved vaccine, made by Moderna Inc, began on Saturday.
A Biden transition official said Biden would receive a dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday, while Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would likely get the vaccine the week after Biden.
