‘I hope everyone remembers!’ Donald Trump says from Mar-a-Lago that HE deserves credit for vaccine shots
‘I hope everyone remembers!’ Donald Trump says from Mar-a-Lago that HE deserves credit for vaccine shots that are now proliferating across the country as Joe Biden prepares to tout distribution gains
President Donald Trump is demanding he credit for the coronavirus vaccine shots that are now making their way into Americans’ arms at an accelerated clip – claiming there would be no vaccine for another five years without him.
Trump made the comment as Joe Biden prepares to trumpet new funding for distribution and a faster clip of vaccinations – even as the 45h president did not appear in a public service announcement with three of his predecessors urging Americans to get their shot.
‘I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) vaccine, that if I wasn’t president, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for five years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all.’ he wrote.
Donald Trump, pictured, sought to take credit for America’s vaccine success after some of the available jabs were developed under his presidency
The statement was carried on his official 45th President letterhead – though it took on the tone of one of his famous tweets before getting banned from Twitter after the Jan. 6th MAGA riot.
It was not immediately clear why Trump put the word ‘shot’ in quotation marks – although it could refer to the slogan of the new PSA.
‘This is our shot,’ says former President Bill Clinton in the ad. ‘Now, it’s up to you,’ adds former President Jimmy Carter.
Trump’s plea comes as credit for the vaccine that could soon transform the daily lives of millions of Americans was already taking shape.
The Pfizer vaccine, which was first out of the gate, was developed privately. But the Moderna vaccine, which like Pfizer is extremely effective, got assistance from Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed.’
Trump issued the statement under the letterhead of The Office of Donald J. Trump but it read like one of the tweets he has been unable to send since his social media ban
The administration claimed based off ‘reported administered’ data that there was a new record for vaccine shots Saturday. The number later proved to be not accurate
Biden on Thursday announced plans to purchase an additional 100 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses.
The former president’s use of the phrase ‘China virus’ was another attempt to needle his successor. He regularly casts Biden as beholden to the rival, and used the term during his tenure even after critics called it racist.
Since taking office, the Biden team has taken to blasting the state of the vaccine program they inherited, particularly on the distribution side – despite its vaccine development efforts getting credit during the transition.
Biden plans to address the nation tonight in a prime time address from the White House. The White House announced Thursday Biden was moving up the bill signing by a day for his $1.9 trillion relief package, amid Republican complaints he was stringing it out for show.
Biden and his coronavirus advisor Andy Slavitt were put on the defensive when the AP reported in a fact check that both had overstated the ‘record’ 2.9 million doses given Saturday. The real number was 1.6 million. The earlier CDC figure had included doses from other days.
Trump found himself being praised for his part in the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine from an unexpected quarter – before then characteristically doubling down and hailing his own contribution.
As Joe Biden revels in the rapid pace of the roll-out that is set to deliver its 100millionth dose in the coming days, even the New York Times said the former president’s administration needs to take some of the credit.
Trump, though, not to be outdone released a statement in which he claimed that without him, people may not be getting protection from the virus ‘at all’.
Issuing the statement under the letterhead of The Office of Donald J. Trump, he said: ‘I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the Covid-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) vaccine, that if I wasn’t president, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful shot for five years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all.’
Writing in the New York Times, Sharon LaFraniere said the current success of the roll-out of the vaccine in the U.S. needed examining.
She wrote: ‘A closer look at the ramp-up offers a more mixed picture, one in which the new administration expanded and bulked up a vaccine production effort whose key elements were in place when Mr Biden took over for President Donald J Trump.
‘Both administrations deserve credit, although neither wants to grant much to the other.’
She also said that Mr Biden had ‘benefited hugely from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration had set in motion’.
Trump’s boast was backed up by his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who accused Biden of ‘denying the successful operation Trump left him’.
‘President Trump put in place an unprecedented vaccine operation that paved the way for President Biden,’ she said.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines passed clinical trials and were approved while Trump was president, giving the US a head start on many other nations.
But Pfizer developed its vaccine without any research funding from Operation Warp Speed, the federal jab program touted by the Trump administration.
Other vaccines such as the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab were developed at similarly impressive speed without any help from Trump or the US government.
Nonetheless, while in office, Trump asked future historians to ‘remember that these great discoveries which will end the China Plague all took place on my watch’.
Trump last month told his supporters at CPAC to ‘get your shot’, but is absent from two new public announcements featuring every other living former president.
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama will appear in the public service announcements with their respective first ladies, the Ad Council says.
Joe Biden, pictured, is on track to reach his goal of vaccinating 100million people in his first 100 days in office – but Trump wants people to give him credit
‘The science is clear. These vaccines will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease,’ said President Bush in one of the adverts.
‘That’s the first step to ending the pandemic and moving our country forward,’ Obama says.
When asked about Trump’s absence, a spokesman for the Ad Council said one of the PSAs was filmed at Biden’s inauguration in January which Trump did not attend.
While Trump and his allies claim credit for the rapid roll-out, the Biden White House says it has nearly doubled the number of jabs being delivered per week.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this month that the number of doses available per week had risen from 8.6million to 15.2million since Biden took office.
Biden promised 100million doses in his first 100 days in office, a mission which is comfortably on target with nearly 96million jabs handed out so far.
The daily rate of vaccinations now averages more than two million shots, and more than 75million doses have been administered since Biden was sworn in.
Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will appear in public service announcements about the Covid-19 vaccines, but Trump will not
Under pressure to set a more ambitious target, Biden indicated after taking office that he might raise the goal to 150million.
The rapid progress has put America near the top of the world rankings, with a rate of 28 doses administered per 100 people comparing favorably to other rich nations.
Around 18 per cent of the population has received at least one dose, behind Britain’s 33 per cent but well ahead of the European Union figure of seven per cent.
Nearly 10 per cent of Americans have had two doses, a figure bettered only by Israel and the United Arab Emirates, according to research by Our World In Data.
On Wednesday, Biden said the US would start exporting surplus jabs once ‘Americans are taken care of’ as he unveiled plans to buy another 100million doses.
We’re going to start off and ensure Americans are taken care of first, but we’re then going to try to help the rest of the world,’ Biden told reporters.
‘If we have a surplus, we’re going to share it with the rest of the world,’ Biden said, adding that ‘we’re not going to be ultimately safe, until the world is safe.
