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Bidens to Get Vaccine Monday, Harris and Husband Following Week

Bidens to Get Vaccine Monday, Harris and Husband Following Week

Bidens to Get Vaccine Monday, Harris and Husband Following Week
President-Elect Joe Biden, centre, and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, right, hold hands next to Jill Biden, left, during the Democratic National Convention. (Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg)

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will get their first dose of coronavirus vaccine on Monday, a transition official said.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will get their first shots the following week.

Biden has said he would take the vaccine as soon as was appropriate and that he would do so in public to raise trust and awareness.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, were vaccinated earlier Friday, as was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Government officials are among the first to get the shots as part of longstanding plans to protect continuity of government.

Recent polls have shown that confidence in the vaccine is increasing but that many Americans still harbor doubts.

President Donald Trump has said he will take the vaccine, but hasn’t said when. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday declined to set a timeline, or to commit to him getting it while still in office.

On Thursday, the transition announced that Representative Cedric Richmond, who has been named one of Biden’s White House aides, has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the first known infection among the president-elect’s senior advisers.

Biden was tested after Richmond’s infection was known, and the president-electe tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday. The transition team said Biden did not have “close contact” as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control when they appeared together at a campaign event Tuesday in Georgia, Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.