Vice President Pence To Get COVID-19 Vaccine Publicly On Friday

By Alana Wise

Published December 16, 2020 at 5:29 PM CST

Vice President Pence attends a rally in support of Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) on Dec. 04, 2020.

Vice President Mike Pence will publicly receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, the White House has announced.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams and second lady Karen Pence will also receive the vaccine.

Pence, who chairs the White House's coronavirus task force, and other officials are working to instill trust in the vaccination process. By taking it in public, he hopes to "promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people," the White House says.

Pence will be the highest ranking person yet to publicly receive a COVID-19 vaccine as distribution begins.

President-elect Joe Biden is also expected to broadcast his vaccination in the near future.

President Trump has credited his administration with fast-tracking vaccine development and has hailed it as among his greatest presidential accomplishments.

Earlier this week, the United States crossed the grim milestone of 300,000 coronavirus deaths.