Trump once again gave credit for the development of the vaccines to his administration’s Operation Warp Speed and accused President Joe Biden of being “way behind schedule.”
Biden previously announced a goal of having 70% of American adults receive at least one shot of a vaccine before July 4, an objective that ultimately was not reached.
Biden and his administration faced heavy backlash this week after the president pointed to misinformation on social media as being behind vaccine hesitancy. He went on to accuse Facebook of “killing people.” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had earlier called for the banning of people found to be spreading “misinformation” by officials.
According to Biden’s predecessor though, Americans are refusing to get vaccinated because “they don’t trust [Biden’s] administration, they don’t trust the election results, and they certainly don’t trust the fake news, which is refusing to tell the truth.”
RSBN 🇺🇸 on X (formerly Twitter): “Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/QLo7y1pXsJ / X”
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/QLo7y1pXsJ
As a result, Trump has been accused of pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric by his critics, despite the fact that he has promoted getting vaccinated before.
“Trump just released a statement dabbling in anti-vaccine rhetoric. It’s best not to share or amplify this. He’s banned from Twitter for a reason,” Independent columnist Ahmed Baba tweeted.
Blake Hounshell on X (formerly Twitter): “A dangerous turn of events as Trump flirts with anti-vaccine sentiment. pic.twitter.com/aQBd7Z3ilc / X”
A dangerous turn of events as Trump flirts with anti-vaccine sentiment. pic.twitter.com/aQBd7Z3ilc
Chris Megerian on X (formerly Twitter): “Former President Trump issues a statement criticizing President Biden and says “people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust his Administration.”Trump’s statement doesn’t encourage his supporters, who are more likely to be unvaccinated, to get their shots. / X”
Former President Trump issues a statement criticizing President Biden and says “people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust his Administration.”Trump’s statement doesn’t encourage his supporters, who are more likely to be unvaccinated, to get their shots.
The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher on X (formerly Twitter): “Trump giving the base the exact message they want of being against the COVID vaccine because if the election was stolen, clearly you can’t trust the Biden administration to administer the COVID vaccine that Trump himself is taking credit for creating.Yeah, my head hurts too. pic.twitter.com/clNAnEqxZp / X”
Trump giving the base the exact message they want of being against the COVID vaccine because if the election was stolen, clearly you can’t trust the Biden administration to administer the COVID vaccine that Trump himself is taking credit for creating.Yeah, my head hurts too. pic.twitter.com/clNAnEqxZp
Some were more supportive of Trump’s statement and pushed back against the outrage, arguing the comments are similar to ones made by Vice President Kamala Harris when she was on the campaign trail last year, as well as other liberal pundits during the same time period.
During a vice presidential debate in October, Harris said she was not sure about taking a Covid-19 vaccine approved while Trump was in office.
Harris said she would trust doctors telling her the vaccine is safe, “but if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it.”
Byron York on X (formerly Twitter): “In new statement, Trump attributes vaccine hesitancy to Americans not trusting Biden, which is the mirror image of what Biden/Harris said during campaign–that Americans would hesitate to take vaccine because they did not trust Trump. https://t.co/UpkadwwV9j pic.twitter.com/naZtoJneIP / X”
In new statement, Trump attributes vaccine hesitancy to Americans not trusting Biden, which is the mirror image of what Biden/Harris said during campaign–that Americans would hesitate to take vaccine because they did not trust Trump. https://t.co/UpkadwwV9j pic.twitter.com/naZtoJneIP
Bryan on X (formerly Twitter): “I still think that if Trump won re-election and distributed the vaccine there would be a lot of resisters like this dude who would refuse to take the vaccine. https://t.co/yePPdB4osc / X”
I still think that if Trump won re-election and distributed the vaccine there would be a lot of resisters like this dude who would refuse to take the vaccine. https://t.co/yePPdB4osc
