By Dylan Housman
The White House tweeted COVID-19 disinformation Thursday evening to imply that President Joe Biden deserves credit for vaccinating Americans against the virus.
The official White House twitter account tweeted that when Biden took office, on Jan. 20, 2021, there were millions of Americans unemployed and no COVID-19 vaccines available. The tweet went on to tout the decrease in unemployment since then, calling it the fastest drop in unemployment at the start of a president’s term ever.
When President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available.
In the last 15 months, the economy has created 8.3M jobs and the unemployment rate stands at 3.6% — the fastest decline in unemployment to start a President’s term ever recorded.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 12, 2022
There were, in fact, COVID-19 vaccines available to the public for weeks before Biden took office. The first COVID-19 vaccine dose was administered in the U.S. on Dec. 15, 2020, under former President Donald Trump’s administration, more than one month before Biden would become president. Millions of doses were distributed in the following weeks before Biden took office, with nearly 1.2 million doses administered on Jan. 19, the day before Biden became president, according to The Washington Post’s vaccine tracker.
Biden himself had already received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine before he became president. He received his first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine Dec. 21, 2020, and then his second dose on Jan. 13, 2021. (RELATED: FDA Drastically Reduces Use Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Over Blood Clots)
President-elect Biden received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine because he trusts scientists.
Our administration is committed to doing everything possible to ensure every American has all the information they need to get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/9FzLEeqwOi
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2021
The White House’s false tweet has yet to be corrected as of late Thursday night, and Twitter has not flagged it as misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.
