National Post (National Edition)
HARRIS RECEIVES VACCINE IN A BID TO BOOST CONFIDENCE
WASHINGTON U.S. vice-president-elect Kamala Harris received a COVID-19 vaccination live on television on Tuesday, as the incoming Biden administration seeks to boost confidence in the inoculation even while warning it will be months before it is available to all.
Senator Harris, who is Black and Asian-American, will become the second high-profile person from an ethnic minority background to receive the vaccine after surgeon general Jerome Adams on Dec. 18.
Democratic president-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said he will make the fight against the coronavirus, which has infected more than 19 million Americans and killed over 334,000, his top priority. He received his first injected dose of the vaccine live on television last week. Two doses are required for full protection.
The Biden team has put particular emphasis on the importance of encouraging vaccine distribution and inoculation in non-white groups especially hard hit by the coronavirus.
Harris received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from a nurse wearing a mask and a face visor at a medical centre in predominately Black southeast Washington.
“I barely felt it,” Harris said, laughing, after receiving the injection in her upper left arm. “I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine — it is relatively painless ... it is safe ... it's literally about saving lives. I trust the scientists.”