US President Joe Biden on Thursday received a clean bill of health from his physician, according to a health summary released by the White House, amid concerns over his age in a possible re-election bid.
“President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander-in-chief,” wrote Kevin O'Connor, the physician to the President.
Dr O'Connor mentioned Mr Biden's Covid infection in the summer of last year as part of a review since his last physical in November 2021, and said he has not experienced anything considered to be consistent with long Covid.
The President has spinal arthritis and some issues with his feet, presenting as a slight change to his gait, the doctor said.
Mr Biden also has gastro-oesophageal reflux, which may lead to him clearing his throat.
As part of a routine skin cancer check-up, Dr O'Connor said a “small lesion on the President's chest was excised” and sent for a biopsy, with “pending” results. It was his second physical exam as US President.
Already the oldest leader in the country's history, Mr Biden would be 82-years-old at the beginning of his second term if he wins his expected re-election bid.
“I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about anyone’s age, including mine,” he said in a TV interview in October last year.
“And if they think I do and I can do it, then that's fine. If they don't, then they should vote against me — not against me, they should encourage me not to go. But that's not how I feel.”
Joe Biden through the years — in pictures
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Joe Biden speaks with his bedridden son, Beau, before he was sworn in as the US senator from Delaware in January 1973. Mr Biden's first wife and daughter were killed in the car accident that injured his two sons. AP -
Mr Biden on a trip to China while he was the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman in 2001. AFP -
Mr Biden, then a senator, tours ground zero with fellow Senate members Ted Kennedy and Barbara Mikulski. AFP -
Mr Biden meets Rafic Hariri, the assassinated prime minister of Lebanon, in April 2002 in Washington. AFP -
Mr Biden meets late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in June 2002. AFP -
Mr Biden meets Ibrahim Jaafari, who was Iraqi prime minister at the time, in Baghdad in May 2005. AFP -
Mr Biden and his wife Jill celebrating their son Beau's election as attorney general of Delaware. AP -
Mr Biden in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2007. AFP -
Mr Biden squares off against Sarah Palin during the vice presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, in October 2008. Reuters -
The Bidens and Barack and Michelle Obama arrive for an election night party in Chicago, Illinois, in November 2008. AFP -
Mr Biden meets Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president at the time, in Baghdad in January 2009. AFP -
Mr Biden and sons Hunter, left, and Beau walk in the Inaugural Parade in January 2009 in Washington. AFP / Getty Images
