Dr. Anthony Fauci is weighing in with his thoughts on President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and when he thinks they should get the COVID-19 vaccine.
During an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested Harris and Biden get vaccinated as soon as possible.
“This is a person who very soon will be the president of the United States. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will very soon be the vice president of the United States,” he said.
Fauci continued, “For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can. You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January. So that would be my strong recommendation.”
The nation’s top infectious disease expert accepted an offer from Biden to stay on as the chief medical adviser and be part of the incoming Biden administration’s COVID team.
Fauci is currently a member of the White House coronavirus task force under the Trump administration. He has advised several presidents on domestic and global health issues.
During Tuesday’s interview, Fauci also recommended President Donald Trump get the vaccine, saying, “If he were asking me, I would recommend that he do that, as well as Vice President Pence.”
He added, “You still want to protect people who are very important to our country right now, even though the president himself was infected and he has likely antibodies that likely would be protective. We’re not sure how long that protection lasts. So to be doubly sure, I would recommend that he get vaccinated, as well as the vice president.”
Earlier this month, Biden said that he would join former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush in getting the COVID-19 vaccine in public.
President-elect Joe Biden says he'd "be happy" to join former Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton in getting a Covid vaccine in public to prove it's safe. "When Dr. Fauci says we have a vaccine that is safe, that's the moment in which I will stand before the public and say that" pic.twitter.com/JATvDIMP0n
— CNN (@CNN) December 4, 2020
“When Dr. Fauci says we have a vaccine that is safe, that’s the moment in which I will stand before the public,” Biden said during a CNN interview.
The former vice president added, “It matters what a president and vice president do. I think my three predecessors have set the model on what should be done.”
Trump shared on Sunday that he is “not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.”
In New York, an intensive care unit nurse, Sandra Lindsay, became the first person in the U.S. to get vaccinated for COVID-19 on Monday.
Lindsay said, “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe.”
