Russian President Vladimir Putin says some of his close relatives and people in his inner circle have already been vaccinated against the new coronavirus.

“My close ones, my close relatives, people who are working around me got vaccinated. I’m speaking about dozens of people — approximately about 50,” Putin said on Tuesday, according to TASS.

“Almost the entire command of the Russian Defense Ministry and other special services were inoculated,” the Russian president added.

Russia was the first country to register a vaccine against the coronavirus, and Putin announced that one of his daughters had received the inoculation and developed sustainable immunity against the disease in late August.

The White House bodyguards of the Secret Service are ever ready to “take a bullet” for the US president, but a danger they now face is Donald Trump himself, infected with Covid-19.

Trump’s rejection of masks in the White House and on the campaign trail helped foster a lack of vigilance that led to an outbreak among presidential staff and attendants, including several in the Secret Service, according to reports.

While being treated at the Walter Reed medical center near Washington on Sunday, Trump stretched protocol even further when he had a Secret Service team drive him around to wave to supporters outside the hospital.

The president and his bodyguards wore masks, but they were all in one vehicle with the windows shut, at a time when experts say he was highly infectious.

The White House later sought to justify the brief outing, saying “appropriate cautions” had been taken and that it had been “cleared by the medical team.”

But Walter Reed physician James Phillips described the drive as “insanity.”

“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” he tweeted.

“They might get sick. They may die. For political theater.”

– ‘Part of the job’ –

Risk is part of the job for the elite presidential protective division of the Secret Service. The agents travel with the US leader and the vice president at all times, famously putting themselves between attacker and target.

In 1963 Agent Clint Hill threw himself over the bodies of president John F. Kennedy and his wife Jaqueline after Kennedy, riding in an open car, had been hit by an assassin’s bullet.

“If I had reacted just a little bit quicker,” Hill later regretted. “I’ll live with that to my grave.”

In 1981 agent Tim McCarthy likewise shielded Ronald Reagan with his body and pushed him into his limousine after a shooter wounded the president and two others.

“That’s just part of the job,” says Ronald Kessler, who has written two books about the service. “When they sign up, they understand that they are going to be at risk, they could be shot.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a different threat.

Battling an uphill fight to hold on to the White House in the November election, Trump has traveled the country holding rallies and fundraisers without requiring masks or social distancing.

Several Secret Service agents were forced to self-quarantine after a June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the same happened again after a July speech to sheriffs in Tampa, Florida led to positive Covid-19 tests, according to the Washington Post.

The service also had an outbreak at its training academy in Maryland.

For what it called “operational sensitivity,” the Secret Service would not discuss how coronavirus has impacted them.

“The Secret Service will continue to follow established protocols to ensure the safety of our employees. The Secret Service does not discuss our protectees or the specific means and methods regarding our protective mission,” said spokeswoman Justine Whelan.

Kessler, who has also written a book about Trump, said the agents were “very loyal” to the president, whom he said “treats them with respect and consideration.”

Nevertheless, he added: “My opinion is, why take unnecessary risks and send the wrong message in this case when he took his jaunt?”

Michelle Obama, who as the wife of former president Barack Obama continues to enjoy Secret Service protection, took aim at Trump in a tweet on Tuesday.

“My heart goes out to everyone touched by this virus,” she wrote, “especially the Secret Service and residence staff whose service ought never be taken for granted.”

Source: AFP

US President Donald Trump has come once again under scrutiny for downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus — this time his own illness — as he returned to the White House after less than three nights in hospital for COVID-19 treatment, calling on people not to be afraid of the virus that has killed more than 210,000 people in the US.

Democrats have slammed Trump of rushing his release for the sake of politics, accusing him of politicizing his illness, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying he might become “a long-hauler”, someone who experiences longer-term consequences.

“He should not be dealing with it politically to make it look like he overcame the virus because he’s had such good policies,” Pelosi said. “He has been very destructive and dangerous to the country.”

Trump was admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

He left the hospital on Monday and went back to the White House, where he is expected to continue his recovery, according to his doctor.

The president tweeted before leaving the hospital that he “will be back on Campaign Trail soon.”

“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Trump said in a recorded video message.

“We’re going back, we’re going back to work. We’re going to be out front. … Don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful,” Trump said.

His campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the president plans to participate in the second presidential debate, to be set in Miami, on October 15.  

This has raised concern among health experts, including within his own administration, and drew criticism from politicians, including both Democrats and Republicans, who described his latest remarks on the disease as “irresponsible” and “shocking.”  

“COVID-19 is something that is killing a lot of people. And it’s definitely a threat to people’s overall health,” said Otto Yang, a professor of infectious disease at the University of California.

“I think it’s up to the individual to judge if that’s something to be afraid of or not,” he added.

Source: Presstv