Dr. Anthony Fauci stated Tuesday morning that President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence should all receive the coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible.
Fauci, speaking with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos, said that “for security reasons, I really feel strongly we should get them vaccinated as soon as we can and want him fully protected as he enters the presidency in January,” when asked about whether or not Biden should take the vaccine. “That’s my strong recommendation.”
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as Biden’s chief medical adviser on Covid-19, speaks on screen after Biden announced his team tasked with dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware on December 8, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden on December 7, 2020 named the team tasked with turning around the United States’ floundering efforts to quell the Covid-19 pandemic, nominating Xavier Becerra as his secretary of health. Biden warned Congress must act or risk vaccine drive will ‘slow or stall’. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
“I would recommend he do that, as well as Vice President Pence,” he added of Trump. “You still want to protect people who are very important to our country right now.” (RELATED: US Could Reach ‘Herd Immunity’ By Spring, Fauci Says)
“Even though the president himself was infected and he has likely antibodies that likely would be protective, we’re not sure how long that protection lasts,” Fauci noted. “So to be doubly sure, I would recommend that he get vaccinated as well as the vice president.”
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In addition to serving as the leading scientist on Trump’s White House coronavirus task force, Fauci has accepted an invitation from Biden to serve as his chief medical adviser.
“We can do both because the goal is the same,” he told Stephanopoulos Tuesday morning of working for both Trump and Biden at the same time. “My goal as a physician, a scientist, a public health official, you know, we were very deeply involved and still are with the development of the vaccine, with the development of new drugs, with the policy about getting people out there.”
“We still have a lot of problems out there,” Fauci stated. “We still have a great challenge so I don’t see any conflict at all.”