On the day that Vice President Mike Pence received the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 in a live, televised event, some are curious if President Donald Trump will also publicly receive the vaccine amid a pandemic that has cost over 300,000 American lives.
Many Americans have raised questions about the vaccine’s safety, particularly due to its rapid development and testing. This is why Vice President Pence and three former presidents (Clinton, Bush, and Obama) are all scheduled to publicly take the vaccine. There is no particular date set yet for President-elect Joe Biden, but his team has also said he plans to take the vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci will also receive the vaccine, as will Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The Commander in Chief has publicly stated that he did not see a priority for his own vaccination. He has the antibodies, and has pledged that White House staffers will not cut the vaccine recipients’ metaphorical line. But Joe Scarborough suggested another, perhaps more cynical reason why Trump is deferring on the vaccine: he doesn’t want to offend anti-vaxxers, many of whom are part of his loyal base of supporters.
On Friday’s episode of Morning Joe (minutes before Pence was to get vaccinated on live television), Scarborough noted, “We’re going to be seeing Mike Pence later today get the vaccine, and yet, not Donald Trump.” Scarborough then suggested, without citing a source, that Trump is more worried
There is a long history of the White House choosing politics over science, at least according to numerous reports. A former CDC staffer recently revealed that interference from Kellyanne Conway and Ivanka Trump on messaging often got in the way of the agency’s public health measures. It is not clear from where Scarborough sourced his report, but it surely makes sense.
Watch above via MSNBC.