Kamala Harris receives Covid-19 vaccine dose

Vice president-elect: ‘I trust the scientists. It is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine’

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris has received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at United Medical Center in Washington DC.

The centre’s registered nurse Patricia Cummings administered a shot of the Moderna vaccine into the incoming vice president’s left arm on Tuesday.

“That was easy," she said, laughing. “I barely felt it.”

President-elect Joe Biden received a first dose of the vaccine on 21 December at ChristianaCare's Christiana Hospital in Delaware.

Harris said her husband Doug Emhoff will also receive the vaccine on Tuesday. The Moderna vaccine requires two shots, separated by 28 days.

“As Joe likes to say, there’s a big difference between vaccines and vaccinations,” she said. “I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine. It is relatively painless, it happens really quickly, it is safe.”

“Literally, this is about saving lives,” she added. "I trust the scientists. It is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine. … When it is your turn, get vaccinated. It’s about saving your life, the lives of your family members and the life of your community."

Asked by a reporter whether she sought to dispel concerns about the vaccine, particularly among Black Americans in underserved and racist health systems, Harris said that the vaccine will be administered by people living among their communities.

“We have phenomenal healthcare providers … who serve the community, and we have hospitals, medical centres and clinics like this all over the country, who are staffed by people who understand the community, who come from the community, and who administer all year around trusted healthcare,” she said.

“I want to remind people that right in your community is where you can … receive the vaccine, by folks you may now, by folks working in the same hospital where your children were born," she added. “I want to remind people that they have trusted sources of help."