Biden to publicly receive COVID-19 vaccine on Monday
18 December 2020
President-elect Joe Biden will receive his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in public on Monday in order "to send a clear message to the public, that it's safe and consistent with security and medical protocols," incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday.
Why it matters: Biden is 78 years old, meaning he is at-risk for severe coronavirus infection. Dozens of White House staff and members of President Trump's inner circle have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past few months of the pandemic.
The state of play: Vice President Mike Pence on Friday became the highest-ranking U.S. government official to receive the vaccine, doing so on live television in order to bolster public confidence. It's unclear when Trump plans to be vaccinated, or whether he will do so in public.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also received the vaccine on Friday.
- Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will receive the vaccine the week after Biden does, Psaki told reporters.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.