I don’t know if you had former President Trump getting booed by a conservative crowd on your 2021 Bingo card–but it happened. It sure did– at the final stop of “The History Tour” with former Fox host Bill O’Reilly in Dallas. As soon as the topic of vaccination came up, that was the breaking point.
The three available vaccines remain effective in fighting strains of COVID-19. And why wouldn’t he have gotten the vaccine? Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October 2020 and confirmed he got the Pfizer vaccine in October. Yet, the total number of vaccinations in the U.S. is only around 61%. So, a message from former President Trump would only help that along, right?
According to Newsweek, the revelation that the former president and former Fox host Bill O’ Reilly both received a booster shot received a less than favorable response:
“Did you get the booster?” he asked the former president. “Yes,” Trump responded. “I got it, too,” O’Reilly said, eliciting more hectoring.
“Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!” Trump told the crowd, waving off their reaction with his hand.
This shouldn’t come as a shock considering most of those who have sowed division regarding vaccinations are themselves vaccinated. The former president has lightly recommended that citizens get the COVID vaccine in the past and preserve freedoms not to take it. Which makes his further comments puzzling:
“Look, we did something that was historic. We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. We together, all of us — not me, we — we got a vaccine done, three vaccines done, and tremendous therapeutics” Trump said. “This was going to ravage the country far beyond what it is right now. Take credit for it. Take credit for it…. Don’t let them take it away. Don’t take it away from ourselves.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in September, former President Trump stated this about boosters:
“I feel like I’m in good shape from that standpoint — I probably won’t get one, he told The Wall Street Journal in a September interview. Later he added, “I’m not against it, but it’s probably not for me.”
On the cusp of another surge of infections due to the Omicron variant, vaccinations, boosters, and masking are the best ways to combat sickness. Especially vaccinations, but don’t take it from me, here’s what the former president said.
“You’re playing right into their hands” when you doubt the vaccine, Trump added.