Obama says he may get COVID-19 vaccine live on TV so people know to 'trust this science'


Former President Barack Obama is willing to set an example when it comes to getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
During an interview with SiriusXM Urban View host Joe Madison set to air on Thursday, Obama said if Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, says a vaccine is safe and can "immunize you from getting COVID, absolutely, I'm going to take it." Obama said he trusts Fauci "completely," and he may get the vaccine "on TV or [have] it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting COVID."
Obama told Madison he understands, due to historical events like the Tuskegee Study, "why the African American community would have some skepticism. But the fact of the matter is, vaccines are why we don't have polio anymore, the reason why we don't have a whole bunch of kids dying from measles and smallpox and diseases that used to decimate entire populations and communities."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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