Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton willing to take COVID-19 vaccine on camera to 'boost public confidence'

WASHINGTON DC: Three former Presidents from the United States -- Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton -- have volunteered to take a COVID-19 vaccine on camera to help promote public confidence. This comes days after the United Kingdom approved the Pfizer vaccine for public use amid a rise in cases that prompted the Government to declare another lockdown.

Once the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes the vaccine, all three former Presidents are willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on television.

Barack Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci approves the Covid-19 vaccine.

'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 said, adding, 'I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science,' added the former President.

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Freddy Ford, Bush's chief of staff, said that Bush, a Republican and Obama’s predecessor, is willing to get a vaccine on camera once the US Food and Drug Administration grants emergency approval.

Clinton will 'definitely take a vaccine as soon as available to him, based on the priorities determined by public health officials,' his spokesman, Angel Urena, said, adding that he is willing to do it in public.

The similar sentiments by three former Presidents come at a time when the US recorded more than 3,100 Covid-19 deaths in a single day.

The number of Americans hospitalized with the virus has eclipsed 100,000 for the first time, and new cases have begun topping 200,000 a day, according to figures released Thursday.

An FDA panel of outside advisers is due to meet on December 10 to discuss whether to recommend emergency use authorization of a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc with German partner BioNTech.

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