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US health and defense officials give update 1 week into COVID-19 vaccine rollout
WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — Senior officials for the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed and U.S. health and defense leaders provided an update Monday on the country’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
The briefing with Department of Defense and Health and Human Services Department leaders comes exactly one week after the U.S. began administering the first vaccines to health care workers.
Monday also marks the kick-off of a nationwide campaign to vaccinate nursing home residents against COVID-19.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and CVS Health Corp are leading the program, in partnership with the federal government. It aims to vaccinate some 7 million people in more than 70,000 long term care facilities.
The companies had already began dosing some residents with Pfizer’s vaccine last week but their full rollout begins Monday.
The head of Operation Warp Speed said on Sunday that people who have been infected with the coronavirus — a group that includes President Donald Trump — should receive the vaccine.
Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser of Operation Warp Speed, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the vaccine is safe for those who have recovered and offers stronger and potentially longer protection than does the virus itself.
“We know that infection doesn’t induce a very strong immune response and it wanes over time. So I think, as a clear precaution, it is appropriate to be vaccinated because it’s safe,” he said. “I think people should be vaccinated, indeed.”
White House officials have said that Trump will get the vaccine, as soon as his team determines its best to do so. It remains unclear when that might be.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said last week that Trump was holding off, in part, “to show Americans that our priority are the most vulnerable.”
“The President wants to send a parallel message, which is, you know, our long-term care facility residents and our frontline workers are paramount in importance, and he wants to set an example in that regard,” she said.
President-elect Joe Biden is set to receive his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine Monday. The vaccination will be streamed on live television as part of an effort to show that the inoculations are safe.