Former President Donald Trump urged his supporters this week to take credit for the COVID-19 vaccine's development, revealing he had received the booster shot and arguing that Republicans are "playing into" the hands of the Democrats when they doubt the vaccine's effectiveness.
Trump made the comments while appearing alongside Bill O'Reilly on their History Tour stop in Dallas, Texas.
Two COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) were approved by the CDC for emergency use before the end of 2020, while a third (Johnson and Johnson) was approved early the next year.
Trump made clear he believes the vaccine development is one of his most significant accomplishments.
"We did something that was historic. We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. We – together – all of us. Not me – we," he said, pointing around the arena to his supporters. "We got a vaccine done – vaccines done – and tremendous therapeutics like Regeneron and other things that have saved a lot of lives. We got a vaccine done in less than nine months that was supposed to take from five to 12 years."
'You’re playing right into their hands' when you doubt the vaccine, President Trump says. pic.twitter.com/xJc7JTL0cR
— No Spin News (@NoSpinNews) December 20, 2021
Millions of lives were saved due to the vaccine, Trump asserted.
"I think this would have been the Spanish Flu of 1917 where up to 100 million people died," he said of the pandemic. "This was going to ravage the country far beyond what it is right now. Take credit for it. Take credit for it. ... What we've done is historic. Don't let them take away – don't take it away from ourselves."
"You're playing right into their hands" by doubting the vaccine's effectiveness, he said, referencing Democrats and the Left.
"If you don't want to take it, you shouldn't be forced to take it. No mandates. But take credit because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit. Don't let them take that away from you."
O'Reilly asked Trump, "Did you get the booster?
"Yes," Trump said.
"I got it, too," O'Reilly said.
As of Dec. 21, 85 percent of U.S. adults had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 72.5 percent were fully vaccinated. About one-third of adults had received a booster.
An Israel study found that a booster shot increased protection against the new Omicron variant compared to a two-shot regimen by a "hundredfold."
Meanwhile, new data out of New York City hospitals shows that an unvaccinated person is 13 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID and eight times more likely to die from COVID than a vaccinated person. The data includes COVID cases for the week ending Dec. 5.
A Texas Department of State Health Services study found that unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely "to experience COVID-19-associated death than fully vaccinated people" and were 13 times more likely "to become infected with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people." The study examined data in the state from Sept. 4 to Oct. 1.
O'Reilly told News Nation Now that Trump deserves credit for the vaccine's development.
"I think what happened in America is a miracle. So we're almost two years into the pandemic. What are the countries that developed a vaccine? ... No one," O'Reilly said. "Yet in nine months, America was able to do it. … President Trump is very proud that his administration developed that vaccine. That's the bottom line."
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Al Drago/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
