On Wednesday, former President Barack Obama said that he will take a COVID-19 vaccine once one is available and may film it to build confidence among Americans about vaccine safety.
In an interview scheduled to air on Thursday, Obama told SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show,” “I will be taking it, and I may take it on TV or have it filmed so people know that I trust this science. What I don’t trust is getting COVID.”
The 59-year-old’s comment came after several polls have found that many Americans are skeptical about getting a coronavirus vaccine, which may potentially jeopardize vaccination efforts to curb the pandemic.
Worldwide, the virus has now taken over 1.49 million lives, with the U.S. reporting over 279,000 deaths.
The hesitation or refusal to get immunized has been a growing problem in the U.S., even before the coronavirus pandemic started. For instance, most Americans believe that a measles vaccine causes autism in children, even though British researchers in 1998 debunked this myth.
During the interview, Obama mentioned a study, in which African-Americans with syphilis were not offered treatment for decades after penicillin was widely available in the 1940s so that researchers could determine the long-term effects of the venereal disease.
He said, “I understand, historically, everything dating back all the way to the Tuskegee experiments and so forth, why the African American community would have some skepticism.”
“But the fact of the matter is, is that vaccines are why we don’t have polio anymore,” he added. “And they’re the reason why we don’t have a whole bunch of kids dying from measles, and smallpox and diseases that used to decimate entire populations and communities.”
The U.S. expects to distribute a coronavirus vaccine within a couple of weeks. Pfizer and Moderna have even requested emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA for their coronavirus vaccines, which they say is nearly 95% effective.
It may take a few weeks for the FDA to review the vaccines. The agency has already scheduled a meeting for December 10 to discuss Pfizer’s request for EUA.
On Tuesday, a panel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted 13-1 to recommend giving the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine to health workers and long-term care residents.
Obama even went on to say that he would take a vaccine if Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said it was safe.
The former president also said he anticipates that people who are at risk will receive the coronavirus vaccine first, urging them to get a vaccine.
“If you are in that category, if you are elderly, if you’ve got a preexisting condition, if you’re a frontline worker, if you’re a medical worker, if you are in a grocery store, if you’re a first responder, you should take that vaccine,” Obama said. The new article originally appeared on CNBC.
