“I think it is very important for former President Trump, as well as for the vice president, to actively encourage all followers to get the vaccine,” Admiral Brett Giroir told CNN’s Jake Tapper in “The Lead” when Asked whether Trump should urge his supporters to get the vaccine in light of a recent CNN poll showing that 46% of Republicans indicated they would not try to get a vaccine.
“This is something that the Trump administration developed in its time,” said Giroir. “And I think all of that, including the ex-president speaking, would be very important.”
Although the former president and first lady received the Covid-19 vaccine at the White House in January, they did so discreetly. Trump then encouraged his followers to get vaccinated against the virus in a speech last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference – a notable change in his messages, as he had long since rejected the severity of the virus and avoided some health practices during his tenure . Most recently, he was the only living ex-president who was not involved in an advertising campaign asking Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine when it was their turn.
Former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and their respective former first ladies appeared in the newly launched campaign that showed them receiving their vaccines, an effort that directly aims to combat vaccine skepticism. Obama, Bush and Clinton offered in December to place their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the safety of the vaccine, and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were vaccinated live on television in December.
A White House official told CNN in mid-December that Trump would not receive a coronavirus vaccine until recommended by White House medical staff. The official said at the time that Trump was still receiving the benefits of the monoclonal antibody cocktail he received during his recovery from Covid-19 in the early fall, when he and the first lady had tested positive for the virus.
Giroir, questioned by Tapper on Monday why Trump was vaccinated behind closed doors and if that had been a mistake, said he did not know that the former president had been vaccinated “until I heard it, as reported in the news”, adding later: “But I think the point now is, and I think this is where we are, that we all have to come together and ask all Americans.”
“The people who follow our former president are very committed to President Trump, and I think his leadership is still very important, and I think we have to do a better job of reaching out to disadvantaged minority communities that have been affected so disproportionately. . “
CNN’s Jim Acosta, Dan Merica and Maeve Reston contributed to this report.
