Vice President Pence, second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams receive on-camera their COVID-19 vaccine.
Pence’s live-on-tv coronavirus vaccination event aimed at building public trust in the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine. Four screens and a podium are set up. They say: “SAFE and EFFECTIVE” “PROMISES MADE — OPERATION WARP SPEED — PROMISES KEPT” “SAFE and EFFECTIVE.” The fourth one, behind the podium, has the same ‘safe and effective’ message on repeat, in smaller font.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) December 18, 2020
A medical technician announced before administration that Pence had been checked backstage. But he asked all three recipients a series of questions beforehand publicly, too.
Laughter as he asked whether any were “pregnant or breastfeeding.” They said affirmatively that they are not.
Adams went first, rolling up his sleeve, to receive the vaccine. Then Karen Pence, the second lady, and the VP last. The VP made no obvious change in facial gesture while receiving it.
Another tech said after that they would all receive a shot record and reminded it would take two doses and they must come back in “21 days.” She said that they could have some “redness” and other minor symptoms but if anything else happens to come back.
“I didn’t feel a thing,” VP Pence said after getting on camera coronavirus vaccine.
He called it a “truly inspiring day.”
Also said he and the second lady got it to show that while the administration “cut red tape” it “cut no corners.”
Pence in his remarks spoke about testing and distribution of the vaccine, noting there may soon be two that are authorized, and thanked Fauci, Birx, Redfield, the team of FEMA, and HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
Notably, Carson entered the room before the event and is seated among other officials.
Pence urged Americans to practice good hygiene and wear a mask whenever social distancing is not possible, whenever indicated or whenever it makes good sense.
“After a year of heartbreak and hardship, the American people can be encouraged.”
A day not too far in the distance that hardship “will be put in the past,” he said.
Says he is confident “we will get through this together and heal our land.”
Adams says it has been a “marathon” … “but by golly, the finish line is in sight.”
He gave a shout out to people of color who helped to develop the vaccine.
As and a Black man, Adams said he is aware, symbolically, what his vaccination today means. Said it would truly be a tragedy if those who need the vaccine most do not get it because of “lack of trust,” referring to the “Tuskegee experiment” and Henrietta Lacks in his remarks.
Said he would keep fighting on that issue.
Fauci addressed common concerns about the vaccine in his remarks.
He said that some may ask if the “government is trying to put one over on us” or companies are trying to take advantage. He said that is not the case and he encouraged everyone to get the vaccine when it is available to them.
He said that in the coming months, January, the “bitterness is going to be replaced by the sweetness” and several months into this year he said it that a discussion may reasonably be able to begin about returning to some sort of normalcy.
Pence did not respond to questions from the pool, including “where is the president?” And “who will get the vaccine next.”