Will Trump Receive The Coronavirus Vaccine? It's 'Under Consideration', Says Senior Official

The United States is days away from distributing Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. While three former U.S. presidents have offered to receive the vaccine to help ensure its safety, many are wondering whether President Donald Trump will do the same.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday gave emergency use authorization to Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. Distributions of the vaccine doses would likely begin early next week, according to The New York Times.

Former President Barack Obama and President-elect Joe Biden have said they would receive a vaccination on camera to prove that it is safe. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also have volunteered to get immunized. But whether President Trump would get vaccinated is still “under consideration,” a senior administration official said.

It's unlikely that Trump would be listed as “high priority” for receiving the vaccine largely because he was diagnosed with the coronavirus in early October.

The president, who was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, developed a low-grade fever, nasal congestion and a cough. What was “very concerning,” however, were Trump’s vitals, according to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Trump's physicians gave him experimental doses of remdesivir and dexamethasone as treatment. He was fully-recovered days later, CNN reported.

Recovered patients develop natural antibodies that protect them from re-infection. However, it is still unclear how long the immunity lasts, as a few incidents of re-infection have been reported.

“The protection someone gains from having an infection (called natural immunity) varies depending on the disease, and it varies from person to person. Since this virus is new, we don’t know how long natural immunity might last,” a note on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website explained.

“Some early evidence — based on some people — seems to suggest that natural immunity may not last very long,” the statement continued.

Dr. Dara Kass, a Columbia University associate professor of emergency medicine, said it is “imperative” that Trump be given a coronavirus vaccine.

“And absolutely imperative that he gets the vaccine early,” Kass told Yahoo News. “Everyone should get the vaccine. You should be vaccinated regardless if you have had the virus. There is reinfection, and we don’t know how long the immunity lasts.”