Pence, lead virus task force members receive Pfizer vaccine

Pence, 61, told Americans that “vigilance and the vaccine” are the path forward.

“I also believe that history will record that this week was the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is now the highest-level government official to be inoculated with a vaccine that experts had doubted could be developed and administered before year’s end.

Wearing a face mask and suit jacket over a short-sleeve button-down shirt with no tie, Pence offered that the faster-than expected timeline meant, “While we cut red tape, we cut no corners.”

After Pence shed his coat, the public inoculation took placed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. Pence, his wife Karen and Surgeon General Jerome Adams received shots administered by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center staff, who asked their subjects if they were pregnant or nursing. Polite laughter was heard as they said no.

President Donald Trump has not taken the vaccine; it is not clear if he would benefit from inoculation since he contracted COVID-19 in October and is thought to be protected by a monoclonal antibody administered at the time, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a recent briefing.

Trump, 74, is “absolutely open to taking the vaccine,” said McEnany. But given the needs of front-line workers and long-term care facilities, “He wants to make sure that the vulnerable get access first,” she said.

Second vaccine approved

Ahead of the vaccination, Trump tweeted about the expected imminent approval of a second vaccine produced by Moderna, saying distribution would begin immediately.

The FDA on Friday authorized the emergency use of the Moderna vaccine, following approval by an advisory panel on Thursday. The approval would open the door for nearly 6 million more vaccines to be distributed to states in short order.

Adams, who is African-American, urged minorities to take the vaccine despite “the shameful Tuskegee experiments” in which the researchers studied syphilis by infecting unwitting black aviators over a 40 year period beginning in 1932. While railing against the “mistreatment and exploitation of minorities by the medical community and the government,” Adams talked about measures taken to make sure such episodes “never ever happen again.”

“It would truly be the greatest tragedy of all if disparities in COVID outcomes actually worsened because the people who could most benefit from this vaccine can’t get it or won’t take it,” Adams said.

Fauci hails vaccine

While he did not get vaccinated Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert and star of the coronavirus task force, has said he plans to be vaccinated soon.

Fauci hailed Pence’s Pfizer shot as a “symbolic” gesture meant to tell the rest of the country, “When your time comes, get vaccinated.”

He also voiced hope that several months into 2021, “We can start thinking seriously about the return to normality.”

President-Elect Joe Biden, 78, is expected to be inoculated next week, as per Fauci’s public advice that both Biden and Trump be vaccinated publicly.

During the presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris said that if Trump tells America to take a vaccine, “I’m not going to take it.” But during a CNN interview in early December, Harris changed her posture in light of Fauci’s support for the FDA-approved vaccine.

“Of course, I’d take it,” she said.

The Pences and Adams will have to get a second Pfizer shot in 21 days.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.