WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and other senior health officials received COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday.

Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), received the shot at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, NIH Director Francis Collins, and some health care workers from the medical clinic were also administered the vaccine, developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the NIAID.

Publicly getting the vaccine "is as a symbol to the rest of the country," Fauci said. "I feel extreme confidence in the safety and the efficacy of this vaccine and I want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated so that we could have a veil of protection over this country that would end this pandemic."