Joe Biden Joins Former Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton in Volunteering to Be Publicly Vaccinated

Photo credit: Gary Miller - Getty Images
Photo credit: Gary Miller - Getty Images
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From Men's Health

Earlier this week, three former Presidents—Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—have offered to be publicly vaccinated for COVID-19, in the hopes that it will help assuage any doubts about the vaccine's safety. And now, President-elect Joe Biden has volunteered to do the same.

Biden told CNN that he would "be happy" to do so, once Dr. Anthony Fauci—the nation's longtime leading infection disease expert, who recently agreed to be Biden's chief medical officer—gave the green light. "When Dr. Fauci says we have a vaccine that is safe, that's the moment in which I will stand before the public and say that," he said. The President-elect added that as "people have lost faith in the vaccine’s ability to work," the former Presidents have "set the model as to what should be done, saying 'once it’s declared to be safe... then obviously, we take it.'"

In an interview with Sirius XM host Joe Madison, Obama explained his decision to volunteer. "People like Anthony Fauci, who I know, and I've worked with, I trust completely," he said. "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." Obama added that he planned to get immunized "when it's been made for people who are less at risk," and that he might "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."

For his part, George W. Bush has apparently already reached out to Fauci to let him know that he's happy to be filmed getting the vaccine. "A few weeks ago President Bush asked me to let Dr. Fauci and Dr. [Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator] know that, when the time is right, he wants to do what he can to help encourage his fellow citizens to get vaccinated," Bush's chief of staff, Freddy Ford, told CNN. "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."

Clinton's press secretary, Angel Urena, also confirmed to CNN that he would be happy to do what he could to support the vaccination process. "President Clinton will definitely take a vaccine as soon as available to him, based on the priorities determined by public health officials. And he will do it in a public setting if it will help urge all Americans to do the same," Urena said.

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