President-elect Joe Biden received his first Cdvid-19 vaccine dose Monday and offered rare praise for President Trump before giving an awkward fist-bump to his nurse practitioner.
Biden applauded the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed for successfully developing vaccines before making the new faux pas discouraged during the pandemic.
Biden, 78, touted the vaccine as safe while wearing two overlapping protective face masks to his appointment at Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Delaware.
The president-elect received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which requires a second dose in 21 days. A second vaccine made by Moderna won regulatory approval last week.
Tabe Masa, a nurse practitioner, administered Biden’s shot. Afterward, Biden and Masa — neither wearing gloves — went in for a fist bump.
Incoming first lady Jill Biden joined her husband on Monday but did not receive a shot on-air as expected.
Biden also discouraged people from traveling for Christmas as COVID-19 cases surge despite the early phase of vaccine distribution.
Biden cleared his throat frequently while speaking to the press and received the dose after a COVID-19 scare that struck his inner circle last week.
A journalist who joined the former vice president on a Tuesday Senate runoff campaign trip to Georgia tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday. A senior incoming White House aide, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-Ga.) also tested positive, though he was not on Biden’s flight.
Biden was filmed removing his mask to speak with people during his campaign stop for Georgia candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphel Warnock, whose Jan. 5 contests will dictate control of the Senate next year.
Biden will take office Jan. 20 as the oldest-ever incoming president.
Since March about 18 million Americans tested positive for the virus that’s killed more than 318,000 US residents.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff won’t get their first doses until next week, incoming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
The Bidens are the latest officials to get the shot to encourage the public to do so as well. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence were given their first round of shots before an audience.
Dr. Fauci, who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force, will get his first shot Tuesday, his office said Monday.
