Former US President Donald Trump has recommended that his supporters get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine, hailing a "great" and "safe" vaccine to many of his supporters who are still opposed to vaccination.
During a phone interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Tuesday, when asked if he would recommend receiving a vaccine shot, Trump said: "I would, I would recommend it to a lot of people who don’t want to get it."
The former president, however, did not specify which of the three vaccines approved for use in the US he was referring to.
“It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works,” Trump said.
Trump recommends supporters get COVID vaccine:
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 16, 2021
"I would. I would recommend it & 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.."
Adding, "We have our freedoms, and we have to live by that. And I agree with that also." pic.twitter.com/eMR0YDfTRp
Trump said that many of the vaccine skeptics “voted for me, frankly,” acknowledging polling evidence that indicates Republicans are more skeptical towards inoculation.
Trump credited his administration for the fast development of US vaccines, while noting that the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx and the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci "made a lot of mistakes" in the fight against the pandemic.
"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," he said. "We saved many months and millions of lives by doing that."
"I was the one, and this administration was the one, that came up with the vaccine" -- Trump (the first FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine was developed by Pfizer last year without any direct help from the federal government) pic.twitter.com/QgMb78GBuM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 16, 2021
During Tuesday's call, Trump also touched upon his much speculated presidential bid in 2024.
"Based on every poll they want me to run again but we're gonna take a look and we will see,” Trump said, adding he could make a decision after the 2022 midterm elections.
"We have a good chance of winning the Senate, and we will make a decision after that," the former president added.
Earlier, Fauci said if the former president used his "incredible influence" among Republicans, it would be a "game changer" for the country's vaccine efforts. Trump has repeatedly encouraged people to get vaccinated, most recently at a conservative political rally in Florida late last month.
The number of vaccine doses provided and administered per day in the United States is increasing, according to reports, with over 2.5 million regular shots in the last week on average. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 5 Americans have received at least one dose, with about 1 in 9 fully vaccinated.
