Donald Trump encouraged Fox News viewers to get a COVID-19 vaccine during a Tuesday evening interview with Maria Bartiromo, while also agreeing that they had to “live by” their “freedoms.”
“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. But, you know, again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that. And I agree with that also,” Trump said. “But it’s a great vaccine, it’s a safe vaccine and it’s something that works.”
The former president — who was vaccinated along with the former first lady Melania Trump in January — then discussed the FDA authorizing the use of the vaccines and simultaneously said it “would have happened in many, many years from now” if he “didn’t get involved” and if he “did get involved,” though it’s not immediately clear what he meant.
On Monday, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said that if Trump was going to continue taking credit for the vaccinations happening under the Biden administration, he should tell his followers to get the vaccine.
“Do what’s best for America. Do what’s best for your supporters. Do what’s best for your supporters’ families. Do what’s best for your supporters’ grandkids, grandparents, everybody. Do what’s best for reopening the schools, reopening small businesses. Tell your supporters to go out and get the vaccine. You took it!” Scarborough said on “Morning Joe.”
On CNN, the Trump administration’s COVID testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir, made a similar appeal to both Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
“We all have to get together and urge every American,” Giroir said. “The people who follow the former president are very committed to President Trump, and I think his leadership still matters a great deal.”
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