US vice president gets COVID-19 vaccine on live TV

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US Vice President Mike Pence, his wife Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams got vaccinated against COVID-19 on live television Friday.

Pence, his wife, and Adams were asked a series of questions about their general health before they got jabs on their left shoulders during a live TV event that was broadcast via Twitter.

Pence has become the first official from White House to receive the vaccine.

The vaccine is a two-dose series, and the second one will be administered after 21 days.

"I didn't feel a thing," Pence said after he received the vaccine jointly developed by the US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

"Hope is on its way. Karen and I are more than happy to step forward ... to take the safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people," he added.

Five days after the largest vaccination campaign started in the US history known as Operation Warp Speed, the public event aims to ensure the safety of vaccination for the American public.

Pence defined the operation to manufacture and distribute millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine as “a miracle,” adding: “While we cut red tape, we cut no corners.”

The vice president said 2.9 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine have been allocated, and 2 million more will be distributed across the US next week as healthcare workers and senior citizens receive the first doses.

After the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Moderna's vaccine, Pence said 5.9 million doses of it will be out by next week.

He said the operation aims to have vaccines for 20 million Americans before the end of December.