President Joe Biden appeared to be at odds with his top scientist in the pandemic fight, Dr. Anthony Fauci, about whether former president Donald Trump should urge his supporters to get vaccinated, given a poll that shows they are the Americans most likely not to get the shots.
“Should President Trump help promote the vaccine amongst skeptics, sir? Especially those Republicans who say that they’re not willing,” a reporter at the White House asked at the end of an event Monday.
President Biden responded, “The thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks, is what the local doctors, what the local preachers, what the local people in the community say” and called upon local doctors and ministers to push vaccinations.
A day earlier, Fauci said he wishes Trump would use his influence over supporters to encourage them to get the vaccine, saying it would “be a game changer” during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
While 30 percent of Americans said they would not get the vaccine if it became available to them, the percentage was far greater among white men, and those who voted for Trump are the most likely not to get the vaccine, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Forty-nine percent of white men said they would not get vaccinated if it was available to them, and 47percent of those who supported Trump in 2020 reported they would get the vaccine.
Trump and former first lady Melania Trump both received their vaccines before his term ended, but he made no public statement at the time, reports surfacing only after he left office. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to an ABC News request for comment Monday.
Source-ABC
