Biden gets virus vaccine shot as Moderna distribution begins

NEWARK, Delaware — President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe.

There's "nothing to worry about," Biden said as he urged Americans to take vaccine as it becomes available to them.

The president-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine on Monday at a hospital not far from his Delaware home, hours after his wife,  Jill Biden, did the same.

The injections came the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, started arriving in states. It joins Pfizer’s in the nation’s arsenal against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 317,000 people in the U.S. and upended life around the globe.

Top government leaders including Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were given Pfizer vaccine doses last Friday.

But missing from the action has been President Donald Trump, who has not said when or if he intends to get the shot.

Biden noted that the vaccine roll-out was still in the beginning stages and cautioned Americans about the long road ahead.

“It’s going to take time,” he said.

The President-elect urged Americans in the meantime to listen to public health experts and wear masks and socially distance and to not travel unless absolutely necessary during the holiday season.

“Because we’re still in the thick of this,” Biden continued. “It’s one thing to have the vaccine show up at a hospital, it’s another thing to get the vaccine from that vial into a needle, into an arm.”