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WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) — U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to publicly receive an injection of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its wide distribution next year.
Biden has said he would make the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 315,000 Americans and infected more than 17.5 million, his top priority when he takes office on Jan. 20. At age 78, he is in the high-risk group for the highly contagious respiratory disease.
A Biden transition official said he would receive the first dose of a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc, while Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would likely get the vaccine next week. Biden's vaccine will be administered by Tabe Masa, nurse practitioner and head of Employee Health Services at ChristianaCare Hospital in Newark, Delaware, the transition team said.
Democrat Biden will inherit the logistical challenges of distributing the vaccine to hundreds of millions of Americans, as well as the task of persuading people who worry its development was rushed for political reasons to take it.
Republican President Donald Trump frequently has played down the severity of the pandemic and overseen a response health experts say was disorganized, cavalier and sometimes ignored the science behind disease transmission.
Related:
US Congress reaches deal on COVID-19 aid package, plans votes for Monday
U.S. congressional leaders reached agreement on Sunday on a $900 billion package to provide the first new aid in months to an economy and individuals battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic, with votes likely on Monday.Trump was briefly hospitalized in October with COVID-19, and many of his advisers and White House staff have also contracted the virus.
Efforts to limit the economic fallout on Americans from the pandemic were boosted on Sunday when congressional leaders agreed on a $900 billion package to provide the first new aid in months, with votes likely on Monday.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Steve Orlofsky and Grant McCool)
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