Trump urges Americans to get Covid-19 vaccine: ‘I would recommend it’

The comments, which equate to Trump’s more vigorous approval of vaccination, are being made as vaccination hesitation among Republicans continues to threaten the U.S. path to herd immunity. While 92% of Democrats have been vaccinated or want to be vaccinated, that number drops to 50% among Republicans, shows a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Although Trump had urged his supporters to “go get your shot” during his speech at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference, his decision to receive the vaccine quietly without public resignations earlier this year sparked rigorous scrutiny and contrasted with his successor and predecessors.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were vaccinated on live television in December and former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton volunteered in December to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera for promote public confidence in vaccine safety. .

Earlier this week, the Trump administration’s coronavirus testing tsar, adm. Brett Giroir, asked Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence to encourage vaccination in light of data indicating that many Republicans have no intention of being inoculated.

“I think it’s very important that former President Trump, as well as the vice president, actively encourage all his followers to get the vaccine,” Giroir told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”

Asked why Trump was vaccinated behind closed doors and if that had been a mistake, Giroir said he did not know the former president had been vaccinated “until I heard it as reported in the news,” adding more late: “But I think the point now is, and I think that’s where we are, that we should all come together and urge all Americans.”

“The people who follow our former president are very committed to President Trump, and I think his leadership still matters a lot, and I think we need to do a better job of reaching minority communities that are unadvised and that have been so disproportionately affected “.