"As the president has said, in our line of work you shake hands when someone wants to shake your hand," Pence told reporters at a White House briefing Tuesday. "I expect the President to do that, I’ll continue to do it."
Instead, he repeated a recommendation to wash hands often and explained that plain soap was just as effective as specialized lotions much sought after.
"All the experts tell me that, while people want to get various sanitizing lotions, washing your hands with hot soap and water 20 seconds is just as good as any lotion you can buy," the Vice President said.
He was appointed to coordinate government efforts to fight the disease that has already infected over 900 Americans and killed 29 more.
Trump told reporters earlier that he was in "extremely good" health, but was open to be checked for the novel coronavirus after reports emerged that a US congressman Matt Gaetz who traveled with him aboard Air Force One had been in touch with an infected person. Gaetz chose to go into a self-imposed quarantine before announcing on Tuesday that his tests were negative.