President Joe Biden received his third shot of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine Monday, encouraging anyone who fits the criteria to get the booster.
“Did you ever think you would be seeing your press coming to watch someone get a shot? In the old days?” Biden chuckled as he arrived. “Me, either”:
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks before receiving a Covid-19 booster shot in line with the CDCs and FDAs recommendations on September 27, 2021, at the White House (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images).
Biden said the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control looked at available data for the vaccine and declared a booster shot for the Pfizer vaccine is safe for the elderly older than 65 and the high-risk population. He urged eligible Americans who are sixth months away from their last shot to get a booster.
“I know it doesn’t look like it, but I am over 65 … way over,” Biden said. “And that’s why I’m getting my booster shot today.”
The president said people with two shots of the vaccine are “highly protected” from severe illness but that a third shot would keep them safe.
“The bottom line is if you are fully vaccinated, you are highly protected now from severe illness, even if you get COVID-19,” he said. “You’re safe, and we’re going to do everything to keep it that way with the boosters.”
While getting his third shot, Biden said he had no side effects from the first or second shots.
Biden praised the “vast majority” of Americans who got their shots and criticized those who did not.
“That district minority is causing us an awful lot of damage for the rest of the country,” Biden said. “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
He said he will continue exploring ways to get more people vaccinated. He also said he will travel to Chicago on Wednesday to promote the idea of private businesses to mandate the vaccine for their employees.
“I’m not the scientist, I think, but one thing’s for sure: a quarter of the country can’t go unvaccinated and us not continue to have a problem,” Biden said.