Thursday, June 24, 2021

Global – 179,000,000/3,900,000; USA – 33,400,000/600,000 I had another terrific day with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. We flew to Florida from Andrews with all the bells and whistles of motorcades to visit two cities: Osceola County near Orlando and Tampa Bay. We have become somewhat of a good team together in visiting with the sites that were administering the vaccine, mingling with both the people who are being vaccinated as well as the staff who were doing the vaccinating. At each stop both doctor Biden and I made remarks and spoke with the press. Of particular note was the visit to Tampa Bay where we met with Mr. Jeff Vinik, the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning , the hockey team that would be playing the 7th game of the semifinals for the Stanley Cup finals the following day. They gave both Jill and I our own jerseys with our names on them. We gave our speech on the ice of the arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning plays. I am getting to be quite good friends with Jill and I think that our relationship will strengthen as we continue working together.

Had a great day with FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden - I flew on one of the presidential planes with Dr. Jill Biden, assembling at the White House for the motorcade to Andrews Air Force Base. Brett Rowland came with me. We went to Florida for a two city stop to promote vaccines. The first stop was at Osceola County near Orlando. The next stop was at Tampa Bay where we did a vaccine promotion event right on the ice in the arena that is used by the Tampa Bay Lightning team. Of note, tomorrow the team plays the 7th game of a seven game semifinal before the Stanley Cup finals . They will be playing the New York Islanders. We had a nice conversation with Jeff Vinik and his family. Jeff is the owner of the hockey team and he gave me a team jersey with my name on it as well as a team jersey to Jill with her name on it. It was a very productive day as both Jill and I gave speeches at each of the locations and encourage the workers there and the people lined up to get vaccinated. No doubt Jill and I are now developing a very strong relationship, as we really have developed a comfortable and warm rapport with each other.