Feb. 16 (UPI) — President Joe Biden remains fit and fully able to execute all the duties of the presidency, his doctor said after the president underwent a routine physical on Thursday.
“President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male,” the doctor said in a report published late Thursday.
Biden entered the hospital at 9 a.m. and left around noon, according to CBS News. Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor said that the president remained healthy, although he did have a small lesion on his chest removed for a biopsy.
Biden, who is the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, last had a physical in November 2021. After that one, O’Connor said osteoarthritic changes to the Biden’s spine resulted in more stiffness.
Biden has not yet announced whether he will run for re-election, but his age often is the focus of any speculation about his ability to maintain the office.
According to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll taken at the end of last year, less than 1% of people said that their ideal president would be 80 or older.
“It is surprising that we get this question when you look at the record of this president,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre previously said. “He’s clearly capable in so many ways and on so many levels. And he’s going to continue to do that in the years coming.”