Donald Trump has claimed that politicians who refuse to disclose their Covid booster shot status are “gutless”.
“I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ .... And they [say] ‘Oh, oh’ — like in other words, the answer is ‘yes’, but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless,” the former US president said in an interview with conservative channel One America News on Tuesday.
“You gotta say it, whether you had it or not. Say it. But the fact is that I think the vaccine has saved tens of millions throughout the world,” he said.
“I’ve had absolutely no side effects [after the booster shot],” he told the news channel, as he advocated for the use of vaccines to fight Covid-19, stating that they prevent people from being hospitalised or dying from the infection.
Mr Trump’s comments came shortly after Florida governor Ron DeSantis indirectly said that he had not yet taken his booster shot.
“I’ve done whatever...the normal shot... and that at the end of the day is people’s individual decision about what they want to do,” the Mr DeSantis, who is considered a potential Republican candidate for presidential elections in 2024, said in an interview in December.
Last month, the former president revealed that he had taken the booster shot but was booed by his supporters.
During his time in office, Mr Trump had fuelled anti-vaxx conspiracies by downplaying the dangers of the pandemic as well as safety mandates such as masks, physical distancing and vaccines.
But in recent days, he has vouched for the efficacy of vaccines and booster shots. These statements are being seen as a part of his strategy as he prepares for another presidential run.
In Tuesday’s interview, Mr Trump lauded the response meted out by his administration claiming that he had done “so well with therapeutics and vaccines and everything else and getting them done in record time”.
But experts and analysts have pointed out that the poor-handling of the Covid pandemic during Mr Trump’s administration in 2020 was among the top reasons for his exit from the White House.
The US is currently facing another record surge in Covid cases, torpedoing the economy and overwhelming the medical infrastructure.
President Joe Biden has urged Americans to take their booster shots, stating that additional doses will significantly bolster the immune system against emerging variants, even as the World Health Organisation asked for better and improved booster doses.
Nearly 75 per cent of the US population have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and about 63 per cent have received both doses. Of these, 37 per cent have received a booster shot against the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
