Ex-US presidents Obama, Clinton, Bush Volunteer To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Publicly To Prove Its Safety

By Edna Wande On Dec 3, 2020

Ex-US presidents Obama, Clinton, Bush Volunteer To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Publicly To Prove Its Safety — From L-R: Barrack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. PHOTO: CNN

Former US presidents, Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have pledged to get publicly vaccinated for coronavirus in order to promote the safety of the vaccine.

Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci signs off on a COVID-19 vaccine.

He expressed;

People like Anthony Fauci, who I know, and I’ve worked with, I trust completely. So, if Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I’m going to take it.

This comes as many Americans say they will not agree to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A poll by Gallup, released in mid-November, showed that 42% of the country would not take the vaccine even if it was “available right now at no cost”.

The 44th US president, who is 59 and is not known to suffer from any serious health problems, said he would take the vaccine once it was available for people “who are less at risk”.

Obama added;

I promise you that when it’s been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it. I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don’t trust is getting Covid.

On his part, Freddy Ford, Bush’s chief of staff, told CNN the former president also wanted to help promote vaccination.

Ford said;

First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations. Then, President Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera.

Angel Urena, Clinton’s press secretary, also told CNN that the former president would also be willing to take a vaccine in public on television.

Vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved by US authorities shortly and a top science official on Wednesday said the United States hopes to have immunized 100 million people by the end of February.

Credit: AFP.