Former President Donald Trump sought to blame President Biden for US vaccine hesitancy.
"They don't trust the Biden administration. I can think of no other reason," Trump told Fox News.
But he ignored the role of right-wing figures in undermining trust in the shot.
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Former President Donald Trump in a Fox News interview sought to blame President Joe Biden for the continued reluctance of millions of Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But the line of attack ignores the role that Trump and his allies have had in seeking to erode trust in the shot.
Speaking to host Sean Hannity Thursday night, the former president said he could think of no other reason than failings by Biden for why around 68 million Americans remain unvaccinated.
"During my administration, everybody wanted the vaccine," Trump said in a phone interview. "There was nobody saying 'oh, gee, I don't want to take it.' Now they say that and that's because they don't trust the Biden administration. I can think of no other reason."
"When I was there, everybody wanted it."
Polling though paints a different picture, showing that white conservatives are the most vaccine-resistant group in America.
Fox News hosts and GOP commentators and lawmakers have likely played a key role in driving that hesitancy, repeatedly questioning the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and championing those opposed to it.
Trump himself initially urged Americans to get vaccinated, including in an appearance on Hannity's show in April. He earned some rare disapproval from his supporters for supporting it, getting booed at a rally in August where he urged people to get vaccinated.
In more recent remarks, however, Trump has taken a position closer to the attitude of many of his supporters.
He expressed reluctance to get a booster shot in an interview in September, saying "I'm not against it, but it's probably not for me."
He had also criticised the booster shot when prompted by a Fox Business host the month before.
The Daily Beast reported in August that he had ignored entreaties from advisers to give stronger backing to the vaccination campaign. It followed an April Politico story in which unnamed Trump advisers said they tried and failed to get him to be more enthusiastic in promoting the jabs.
Analysts told Insider that the persistent anti-vaccine sentiment on Fox was likely motivated by a desire to damage Biden politically after he became president.
The Biden administration has sought to encourage people get get vaccinated. After those methods began to stall, Biden mandated the vaccine for federal workers and contractors, and employees of big companies.
Officials have attracted criticism in some quarters for not doing more to communicate the safety of vaccines and underestimating the scale of vaccine hesitancy.
The vaccines were developed as part of the Trump administration's operation Warp Speed.
Initially both Democrats and Republicans urged Americans to get the shot, but in recent months they have become a politicised issue.
QFulviusFlaccus on October 8th, 2021 at 14:25 UTC »
Moron. Let’s say he’s right.
Under Trump: Democrats and Republicans want vaccine.
Under Biden, same vaccines: Democrats want vaccine. Republicans don’t.
So Republicans change their minds based on stupid shit like owning the libs and Democrats have actual ideals and beliefs.
Cylinsier on October 8th, 2021 at 12:34 UTC »
Didn't his own supporters boo him when he suggested taking the vaccine?
ganymede_boy on October 8th, 2021 at 12:26 UTC »
Never let anyone forget how Trump BOTCHED things in February 2020:
February 1: golf
February 2: golf
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 4: State of the Union Speech - "The best is yet to come!"
February 7: To Bob Woodward: “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed." "It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff."
February 7: Remarks in Charlotte, N.C.: "I think -Xi- handled it really well."
February 10: Fox Business interview: "I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control"
February 10: Trump campaign rally.
February 15: Democratic Senators propose emergency funding bill to prepare for virus.
February 15: golf
February 19: Trump campaign rally.
February 19: “I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along”
February 20: Trump campaign rally.
February 21: Trump campaign rally.
February 23: “We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.” “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
February 26: “The 15 {cases in the US} within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: Trump on way to campaign rally. “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
February 29: ”This is their new hoax," he said, referring to the coronavirus.
February 29: “STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus” –U.S. Surgeon General - original tweet deleted
February 29: Coronavirus Task Force press conference: "China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down"