President Donald Trump claimed that White House staff members would not be among the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine this week, contradicting his own spokespeople. According to a report by NPR, a spokesman for the White House said on Thursday that top officials in the U.S. government would get the coronavirus vaccine early, but that evening Trump refuted this story. On Sunday, the National Security Council’s John Ullyot said that the staffers would be getting the vaccine, but Trump contradicted him yet again, leaving Americans unsure of who to believe.
On Thursday, the news that White House staffers were getting the vaccine early caused a stir on social media, and a few hours later Trump contradicted the announcement. Now, Ullyot has contradicted Trump, saying that “executive branch leadership” will receive the vaccine quickly. Ullyot cited a 2016 National Continuity Policy, which “calls for providing… personnel with the appropriate resources to perform their prescribed continuity roles and responsibilities.” Hours later, Trump reportedly requested a change to this plan, asking that White House staffers including himself not get the vaccine unless “necessary.”
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People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
“Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” Ullyot said. He argued that this was also a way to boost public trust in the inoculation, saying: “The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government on the advice of public health professionals and national security leadership.”
To contradict Ullyot, Trump went straight to Twitter, arguing his case to Americans, not the policymakers he was clashing with. He tweeted: “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!”
Trump and several members of his staff and his family have already survived COVID-19, though that does not necessarily guarantee them immunity. Studies of long-term immunity to this novel coronavirus have been sparse, and in several cases around the world, survivors have contracted the virus a second time, according to a report by Forbes.
The first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech in the U.S. shipped out on Sunday from Pfizer’s facility in Michigan. State governments are responsible for distributing the vaccine among their populace, and most are choosing to give it to health care workers and nursing home patients first. The first doses were administered on Monday morning around the country.
