US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife received the Covid-19 vaccine live on television Friday in a public display designed to boost national confidence in the drug.
"Building confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning," Pence said after being injected at the White House, quipping: "I didn't feel a thing."
President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States has authorized a second coronavirus vaccine. "Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately," he wrote on Twitter.
BREAKING: Vice Pres. Mike Pence receives COVID-19 vaccine. https://t.co/D3NZXWFj5S pic.twitter.com/dDWzaLUMi0
— ABC News (@ABC) December 18, 2020
Pence's move comes as inoculation efforts unfurl across the globe, with officials mounting campaigns to quash skepticism about the record-fast development of the jabs.
The vice president's public injection is an effort to "build confidence among the American people" about the safety of the vaccines, the White House said.
Worldwide, at least 1.66 million people have died from Covid-19 and more than 74 million cases have been diagnosed, according to an AFP count.