Trump Says White House Officials Won’t Be First To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

President Trump contradicted an earlier White House statement saying that administration officials would get early access to the coronavirus vaccine.

Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images

A Trump administration spokesman on Thursday said top officials in the three branches of government would be among the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine, but later in the evening, the president himself said most White House staff members will have to wait.

Top officials would be inoculated against the virus in the initial rollout of the vaccine to ensure the health of essential employees, National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said in a Sunday evening statement, citing the 2016 National Continuity Policy, a directive that “calls for providing [executive branch leadership] personnel with the appropriate resources to perform their prescribed continuity roles and responsibilities.”

“Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” he said.