Biden says he will get COVID-19 booster

President Biden said in an interview broadcast early Thursday that he and first lady Jill Biden will receive COVID-19 booster shots.

“We’re gonna get the booster shots,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos when asked if he and his wife had already received a third dose.

“It’s something that I think, you know, because we got our shots all the way back in I think December, so it’s past time,” Biden added. “Yes, we will get the booster shots.”

EXCLUSIVE: When asked by @GStephanopoulos if he and the first lady had received booster shots, Pres. Biden says: “We’re gonna get the booster shots … We got our shots all the way back in, I think, December. So it’s past time.” https://t.co/NYCZ0NgZH8 pic.twitter.com/WWuXqTdobF

— ABC News (@ABC) August 19, 2021

The interview was taped on Wednesday, hours before the Biden administration announced that it was recommending booster shots for most Americans who are fully inoculated in an effort to reinforce vaccine protection, which has been shown to wane after time, and curb the spread of the highly infectious delta variant.

In a joint statement, top health officials in the administration said people would need boosters beginning eight months after receiving their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, citing the shots’ decreasing efficacy and the delta variant.

The first booster shots are set to start going into arms on Sept. 20, pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Committee on Immunization Practices.

“The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time following the initial doses of vaccination, and in association with the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” the officials wrote in the statement.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, among others, signed the statement.

Officials also said they are anticipating that booster shots will be needed for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine but that they are still looking into the evidence. Additional data is reportedly expected in the coming weeks.

Biden touted the importance of booster shots in remarks he delivered Wednesday, calling the third dose “the best way to protect ourselves from new variants that could arise.”

He also said the shots will be free.

“My administration has been planning for this possibility and this scenario for months. We purchased enough vaccine and vaccine supplies so that when your eight-month mark comes up, you’ll be ready to get your vaccination free — that booster shot free. And we have it available,” Biden said.

“It will make you safer and for longer,” he added. “And it will help us end the pandemic faster.”

Biden publicly received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 21.

On Jan. 11, days before he was sworn into office, he publicly received his second dose.