COVID-19 Vaccine Comes to Capitol Hill: Congressional Leaders Will Receive Shots
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has arrived on Capitol Hill, with top leaders of the U.S. House and Senate getting the shots this week and the top Capitol doctor urging all members of Congress to join them.
The Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan, informed members that they are all eligible for the shots under government continuity guidelines. He asked all members to make appointments with his office to be vaccinated.
It is unclear whether all 535 members of the House and Senate will choose to get the vaccine, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they would receive the shots right away.
Only about half of Americans say they are willing to get the vaccine, according to a survey this month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Several other members of Congress have expressed eagerness to get the vaccine. Two senators, Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Republican Steve Daines of Montana, have been participating in the vaccine trials.
Pelosi said that “all Americans should have full confidence in the vaccines” and that she would receive one in the next few days.
McConnell said that as a survivor of childhood polio, “I know both the fear of a disease and the extraordinary promise of hope that vaccines bring.”
Pelosi is third in the line of succession for the presidency, after President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. McConnell is not in the line of succession but is in charge of running the Senate.
Pence received the vaccine on Friday morning on live television, calling it “a medical miracle.”
Trump, who was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October, has yet to indicate when or if he will receive the shot.
Both Pelosi and McConnell said that they will continue to wear masks, socially distance and follow other health guidelines.
Monahan, the Capitol physician, said his office would continue with appointments “until the small vaccine supply is exhausted.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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