Trump urged his fans to take the COVID-19 vaccine after months of dodging questions and getting it in secret
Fox News
- Trump said Tuesday that he "would recommend" taking the COVID-19 vaccine, calling it "safe."
- On Sunday, Dr. Fauci urged Trump to help convince anti-vaccine Republicans to get the shot.
- Trump got vaccinated in secret and did not join other presidents in getting his shot live on TV.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump told people to get the COVID-19 vaccine during a Fox News phone-in, after months dodging questions and getting his own shot in secret.
"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," Trump told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Tuesday.
"It is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works."
During his presidency Trump declined to specify a date when he would be getting the vaccine and did not join former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama in pledging to get the vaccine live on TV.
Instead, Trump and first lady Melania Trump were vaccinated in secret in the White House in January. The news only emerged after The New York Times reported the development on March 1.
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
Trump was also not present in a pro-vaccine public service announcement that aired earlier this month. A spokesperson for the Ad Council, which produced the campaign, told Insider last week the project started last December, when Trump was still president, and began filming in Washington, DC, after Biden's inauguration, which Trump did not attend.
The advert sees all the living former presidents and their wives getting the vaccine. It not clear if Trump was asked to join the campaign.
Health officials are concerned that Republicans are far less likely to get the vaccine than other political groups.
A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey found that 49% of Republican men said they will not get the COVID-19 vaccine, versus just 6% of Democratic men who said they won't get the vaccine.
A recent CBS poll also found that as many as one in three Republicans were not planning to get vaccinated.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious-disease expert, told Fox News' Chris Wallace that Trump needed to reach out to his followers to promote the vaccine.
"It would be very helpful for the effort for that to happen. I'm very surprised by the number of Republicans who say they won't get vaccinated," he said.
Saul Loeb /AFP via Getty Images
Trump did urge his supporters to get the vaccine during his February 28 speech at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, but used fewer words than in his Fox News phone-in. "Everybody go get your shot," Trump told the CPAC crowd.
Bar that appearance, Trump has largely been silent on recommending taking the vaccine, and has instead focussed on claiming responsibility for its existence.
"I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 ... vaccine, that if I wasn't president, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for 5 years, at best," he said in a statement issued from his personal office based in Florida last week.
He reiterated that claim on Tuesday, telling Fox News: "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."
However, Jen Psaki, the current White House press secretary, has repeatedly refused to give Trump any credit for the existence of the vaccine, and Biden has slammed Trump's efforts to roll out the vaccine.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Psaki instead praised the "Herculean incredible effort by science and by medical experts."
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