Jill Biden Helps Distract People Getting COVID Vaccine Shots
The first lady toured a New Mexico clinic as part of a visit to the Southwest
Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, is there anything First Lady Dr. Jill Biden can’t do? She makes signs bearing encouraging messages for Valentine’s Day, she’s kept her teaching job while also advocating for teachers, and she plays April Fools Day jokes on unsuspecting press. Oh, and she visits a clinic to help distract patients waiting for their COVID-19 shot.
The first lady launched her three-day visit to the Southwest with a stop at a New Mexico COVID-19 vaccine clinic, where she helped distract some of the patients getting shots by promising they wouldn’t feel the sting of the needle, People reports.
Dr. Biden’s visit to the area is intended to bring a spotlight to the Biden administration’s initiatives to get all eligible Americans vaccinated, the White House announced.
As it stands now, more than half of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, with more than a third of U.S. adults now fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tackling some people’s wariness of the vaccine has been an important part of the wellness campaign at federal and local levels.
“So I’ve had this shot and it doesn’t hurt. I promise,” the first lady shared with a woman who waited for her first shot on Wednesday at Albuquerque’s First Choice Community Healthcare, South Valley Medical Center. The first lady toured the site before pausing to meet with patients.
“Normally I’m scared of them!” Biden confided to the woman. “I have to say, it’s so fast. Are you a little scared?”
After the woman admitted that she was, the first lady offered a little distraction.
“Do you want me to come stand with you? I’ll stay with her,” Dr. Biden suggested as the woman turned her face away from the needle as she anticipated the shot. “I can’t look either. Look at me. It doesn’t hurt. Really. It’s mostly in your head.”
“She did a great job!” the first lady said after the woman successfully received the shot, before reaching out to another patient to offer support.
“Can I crash? You have to take off your jacket,” Biden said, ever the teacher. “So why did you decide to come? You felt a duty? Did you have any hesitation?”
The woman, identified later by the White House press pool as Vivana Galvez, said: “I was hesitant a little bit. I mean, I didn’t know what was going in my body. And I’m doing them for the community, my family….”
Like the first woman, Galvez kept her eye on the first lady while receiving the vaccine, and the pair elbow-bumped each other after the shot.
“Bring your friends back and tell them how easy it was,” Biden said.
