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Former President Donald Trump encourages Republicans with vaccination proclamation, according to The New York Times. On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in a nationally televised interview, he recommended that Americans resistant to being vaccinated against the coronavirus should move forward with inoculations.
“I would advocate it, and I would advocate it to a lot of people who don’t want to get it and a lot of people who voted for me, truthfully, and we have our prerogatives, and we have to live by that, and I concur with that also,” he told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo, he added, “it’s a great vaccine, and it’s a safe vaccine.”
Surveys have shown that Republicans are more hesitant to vaccinate than Democrats. A third of Republicans said in a CBS News poll that they would not be vaccinated — compared to 10 percent of Democrats — and another 20 percent of Republicans said they were undecided. Other polls have discovered related behaviors.
Even though Trump encouraged his supporters with a vaccination proclamation, skepticism still lingers, and Republicans remain hesitant. With his public platform, strong influence, and following, such skepticism probably could have been avoided if he had spoken up sooner.
Anthony S. Fauci, the Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, found his actions very puzzling. Any push by Trump “would make all the difference in the world,” he added.
However, he chose not to participate in a recent public service announcement by the Ad Council that highlighted all of the other living former presidents encouraging Americans to get vaccinated.
Furthermore, had he revealed that he and former first lady Melania Trump received their vaccines in January, this could have been a significant gamechanger.
Had Donald Trump acknowledged his vaccination and encouraged Republican supporters sooner, would they still be anti-inoculation? The truth of the matter is yet to be disclosed. The question now is, will his encouragement and vaccination proclamation at this point make a difference, and will more Republicans get the vaccine?
Opinion News by Sharri Rogers
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Sources:
The New York Times: On vaccines, Trump tells his hesitant supporters, ‘I would recommend it;’ by Bryan Pietsch and Annie Karni
The Washington Post: The Trump administration wants to take credit for covid vaccine. Trump supporters are undermining it; by Elizabeth Dwoskin and Josh Dawsey
The Hill: Trump urges supporters to get coronavirus vaccine; by Tal Axelrod
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License