LAST UPDATE | 18 Dec 2020

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden and his wife Jill will be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Monday in public view, his transition team said, as the Democrat seeks to build Americans’ confidence in the treatment.

“On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden will receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Delaware, and they’ll also thank health care workers at the facility,” Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters today.

“He will be doing it in public, which is important to us, as he’s stated many times, to send a clear message to the public that it’s safe,” she added.

Earlier today, US Vice President Mike Pence received the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine live on television.

“Building confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning,” Pence said after being injected at the White House.

“I didn’t feel a thing.” 

WATCH: VP Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams receive the COVID-19 vaccine. pic.twitter.com/j69Suof1Ln

— Mike Brest (@MikeBrestDC) December 18, 2020

The Pfizer vaccine was approved for use in the US last Friday.  

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that Covid-19 vaccinations will begin in EU countries from 27 December. 

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is to meet on Monday to conclude its evaluation of the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. 

US President Donald Trump has said this afternoon that the United States has authorised the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. 

“Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately,” he wrote on Twitter.

This follows a recommendation by an expert panel on Thursday to grant emergency use approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue formal approval later today.

With reporting by Orla Dwyer and AFP