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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Graeme Massie

Trump issues statement trying to take credit for ‘China virus’ vaccine: ‘I hope everyone remembers’

Photograph: Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump has issued a new statement trying to take credit for the success of the “China Virusvaccine.

The ex-president insisted that Americans remember that if it was not for him they would not be getting the “beautiful” vaccine shot “for five years.”

Mr Trump denied the impact of Covid-19 for much of the pandemic and even claimed that it would “one day disappear” like “a miracle.”

The US has seen 29.2 million cases of coronavirus and 528,000 people have died during the pandemic, that Mr Trump claimed would no longer be talked about after the presidential election.

“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 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers.”

The Biden administration says that when they took office Mr Trump’s team had left them with no roadmap to distribute the vaccine across the country.

Mr Biden entered the White House saying he wanted to see 100 million vaccinations administered in his first 100 days in office.

The number of daily vaccinations has soared past the 2 million mark and Mr Biden has claimed that his administration will hit their target weeks ahead of schedule.

He has also said that they will have enough vaccines for every adult American by the end of May. On Wednesday he announced a deal to secure 100 million more Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine doses. He said that any surplus would be shared with other countries once all Americans had been vaccinated.

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