While his country is going through a new corona wave, the American ex-President Donald Trump has developed into a strong advocate of the booster shot. Although he is sometimes booed by his supporters, Trump has made public appearances for the vaccines developed in part under his rule. This week he went so far as to keep Republican party members silent about whether they already got their third shot’gutless‘ (cowardly).
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Trump made his comment on OANN, a far-right TV channel that also regularly propagates anti-vax views. In the interview, Trump stated that “the vaccines have saved tens of millions of lives worldwide.” He himself had “had absolutely no side effects” from his boost, he swore.
Trump said he was annoyed by politicians who, when asked, remain vague about whether they have passed the booster. “The answer is yes, but they don’t say it because they are cowards. You have to say it.” Meanwhile, 37 percent of adult Americans have had a booster shot.
‘Freedom’ more important than vaccines
Vaccine skepticism is high among Republican voters. Their prick rate is 59 percent, significantly lower than among Democrats (91 percent). Many of Trump’s party members do not dare to argue out loud for vaccination. They prefer to turn, under the guise of ‘freedom’, against vaccination or mask obligations proclaimed by Democratic governors and mayors.
One of the loudest exponents of this sentiment is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, where Trump has also resided since he left Washington. In spring and summer 2021, DeSantis led another campaign to quickly vaccinate his state’s especially sizable retiree population. But now he is mainly putting Florida on the map as “the freest state in America”, where no corona restrictions should apply. In a 30-minute State of the Union address that DeSantis gave Monday, the word “vaccine” was never mentioned.
The governor of Trump’s new home state calls it a “private matter” whether he has had the booster shot. The ex-president therefore seemed to be targeting DeSantis with his complaint about ‘cowardly’ politicians. DeSantis is seen as possible running mate or as a competitor to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Developed faster than light
For Trump, the anti-vax sentiment within his party is painful. Several vaccines have been developed within ‘Operation Warp Speed’, a multi-billion-dollar plan by his government to let pharmaceutical companies invent a workable corona shot ‘faster than light’. President Biden praised his predecessor (and science) for that effort just before Christmas. Trump really appreciated that praise, he said on Fox News. “It was great that he did that. It makes many people happy. You know, this country is going through a healing process and this can definitely help.”
Those who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones who don’t take their vaccine
Donald J. Trump former US president
The day after this eulogy from his predecessor, Trump a remarkable interview with right-wing opinion maker and declared anti-vaxer Candace Owens. He surprised Owens by answering her skepticism about vaccination with a warm plea for inoculation. “The vaccines work, but some people don’t take them. Those who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones who don’t take their vaccine.”
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Trump will also be criticized. When he recommended inoculation at a rally in Alabama this summer, he was booed. And when he revealed at a performance in Dallas at the end of December that he’d already gotten his booster, the crowd also cheered. “That’s only a small club in the back,” the ex-president put this protest away.
Higher corona death on the right
Countering vaccine skepticism can also provide an electoral advantage: keeping voters alive. From research, including from radio station NPR, it appears that Republican resistance to vaccines is not without consequences. In constituencies where Trump won 60 percent or more of the vote in November 2020, the corona death rate from May — when the vaccines became widely available — was more than two and a half times higher than in other areas last year. Party preference is the strongest statistical indicator in the US for predicting whether someone has been vaccinated or not, research showed at the end of last year.
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