Former President Donald Trump is encouraging all Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine.
The moment: Trump appeared on “Fox News Primetime” on Tuesday and touted the efficacy of the treatment, telling Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that it’s a “safe vaccine.”
- Credit where credit is due: “We have been working around the clock and what I got the FDA to do, this would have happened… in many, many years from now if I didn’t get involved,” Trump said about the treatment developed under Operation Warp Speed, his administration’s plan to speed up development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.
- It works: “It works incredibly well. 95%, maybe even more than that…and it is really saving our country and it is saving frankly the world.”
- To the doubters: “I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.”
Context: Enough of Trump’s supporters have expressed skepticism about the necessity of a coronavirus vaccine that President Joe Biden felt compelled on Monday to issue a plea to community leaders asking them to convince “MAGA folks” to get vaccinated.
- According to a CBS News poll released this week, only 47% of Republicans say they will get a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available to them, as compared to 71% of Democrats.
- Emerald Robinson, a White House correspondent for the pro-Trump Newsmax network, echoed the sentiments of many of the former president’s supporters when she tweeted out her distrust of the vaccine in December.
- “Why do you need a vaccine for a virus with a 99.9% survival rate? The answer is: you don’t. But the politicians want it for control,” Robinson said.
