Former President Trump said Tuesday that he is “very appreciative” and “surprised” that President Biden thanked him and his administration for their success in making COVID-19 vaccines available to the public, telling Fox News that “tone” and “trust” are critical in getting Americans vaccinated.
Biden on Tuesday afternoon announced increased testing capacity and expanded access to vaccines and support for hospitals across the country amid a surge in cases of the omicron variant, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week makes up more than 73% of new infections in the country.
“Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine,” Biden said Tuesday. “Thanks to my administration, the hard work of Americans, we let, our roll-out, made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Tuesday evening, Trump reacted to Biden acknowledging his administration’s efforts.
“I’m very appreciative of that — I was surprised to hear it,” Trump told Fox News. “I think it was a terrific thing, and I think it makes a lot of people happy.”
Trump then repeated that he was “a little bit surprised.”
“I think he did something very good,” Trump said. “You know, it has to be a process of healing in this country, and that will help a lot.”
The Trump administration created Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership to create vaccines against the novel coronavirus, as the pandemic raged in 2020. Under his administration, the Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
Trump in December 2020 signed an executive order that would ensure all Americans had access to coronavirus vaccines before the U.S. government could begin aiding nations around the world.
“This is a great thing that we all did,” Trump said, referring to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines. “I may have been the vehicle, but we all did this together.”
“When we came up with these incredible vaccines — three of them — and therapeutics, we did a tremendous job, and we should never disparage them,” Trump said. “We should be really happy about it because we’ve all saved millions and millions of lives all over the world.”
Trump, who is fully vaccinated, told Fox News that he received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The former president was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October 2020.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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