Former President Donald Trump said during an interview Tuesday that he would recommend everyone get the Covid-19 vaccine — a significant discourse shift as Republicans express skepticism about getting it.
“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 said on Fox News, calling it “a great vaccine.”
However, he added: “But you know, again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also.”
Trump’s remarks come as recent polls suggest the largest group of Americans either hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine or outright opposed to it are Republicans, and efforts to reach them are only in their infancy. A recent NPR/PBS/Marist found that 47 percent of Trump voters and 41 percent of Republicans said they will not get the vaccine when made available to them.
His remarks also come after it was revealed earlier this month he and former first lady Melania Trump quietly received the Covid-19 vaccine at the White House in January. It is not clear which type of vaccine they received and they were not disclosed at the time by the Trump White House. The official White House photographer was also not present to document the event.
The former president, whose administration was criticized for its vaccine rollout plan, boasted during a speech in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference about how he pushed officials to get the vaccine developed under Operation Warp Speed. He also urged attendees to get vaccinated though he did not disclose he had received the vaccine.
Four of Trump’s predecessors, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, have received their shots in public along with each first lady.
