Trump: Democrats Were the Originators of Vaccine Hesitancy - 'They Disparaged the Vaccine'
Democrats who trashed the coronavirus vaccines developed during the Trump administration are now having their words come home to roost, former President Donald Trump said Monday.
Trump said the United States has undergone a turnaround from the days when he was in the White House and millions of Americans wanted the vaccine.
“If you remember, when I was president, there were literally lines of people wanting to take it,” he told Fox News. “Now, you have a different situation, and it’s very bad.”
The former president said Democrats played politics with the vaccine and the cost is now being paid across America.
“Of course, they famously said, ‘If Trump came up with it, I’ll never take it,'” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the loudest voices saying she would not be vaccinated by something associated with Trump.
“If Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it. Absolutely,” Harris said during the vice presidential debate on Oct 7, 2020. “But if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I’m not taking it.”
President Joe Biden made similar statements on the campaign trail.
“When we finally do, God willing, get a vaccine, who’s going to take the shot? Who’s going to take the shot? You going to be the first one to say, ‘Put me — sign me up, they now say it’s OK’?” he said in a Sept. 2, 2020, television interview.
Trump said those comments impaired public trust.
“They disparaged the vaccine, and now they wonder why people aren’t wanting to take it?” the former president told Fox News. “It’s a disgrace.”
Trump said his Operation Warp Speed effort that produced vaccines in record time deserves more credit than it gets.
“Look, it was one of my greatest achievements doing it in less than nine months instead of five years, or maybe never,” Trump said, contrasting the development of the coronavirus vaccines with the business-as-usual pace of vaccine approval and development. “We saved millions of people all over the world.”
But he said the Democrats did not want that to be a success.
“They don’t trust this president, and that’s why they’re not taking it,” Trump said.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday also said that the comments from Harris and others have hurt efforts to vaccinate Americans now.
“That put us in a totally different area that allowed it to be politicized, and that politicization is just continuing now,” the Republican said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
Chris Christie: Kamala Harris started “the politicization of these vaccines” pic.twitter.com/03vwZc8Vln
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 12, 2021
Trump said Monday that Biden’s edicts to enact vaccine mandates through businesses with more than 100 employees “shouldn’t be necessary.”
Last week, the former president said the vaccine was an important weapon to fight COVID-19.
“If you do get sick, you don’t get sick like they were before, meaning you don’t die,” he told Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
