Trump says most Americans dying are unvaccinated and encourages everyone to get the shot

Donald Trump said Wednesday that people unvaccinated against coronavirus are the ones getting ‘very sick’ as he pushed back against conservative Candace Owens by claiming all Americans should get the jab while he again took credit for its creation.

‘I came up with a vaccine – with three vaccines,’ Trump told the Daily Wire host, referring to the development of the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines while he was still president. ‘All are very, very good. Came up with three of them in less than nine months. It was supposed to take five to 12 years.’

Owens interjected: ‘Yet more people have died under COVID this year, by the way, under Joe Biden, then under you and more people took the vaccine this year. So people are questioning how –’

But the former president interrupted Owens, assuring: ‘Oh no, the vaccine work (sic), but some people aren’t the ones. The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice.’

‘And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected,’ he continued. ‘Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.’

Trump praised the vaccine and urged people to get it, which goes against a large portion of his base, but also opposed the increasing number of mandates related to masking and vaccinations.

Pushing the vaccine is one of the only issues where Trump is at odds with the majority of his base. Vaccine rates dipped over the summer, but are back on the rise as the Omicron variant spreads through the U.S. 

‘Forget about the mandates, people have to have their freedom,’ Trump told Owens in the interview that aired Wednesday.

‘But at the same time, the vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of mankind.’

Trump, 75, said over the weekend when appearing with Bill O’Reilly in Texas that he has received his booster shot.

He has long been an advocate for people getting the vaccine, claiming it is safe and was developed under his presidency.

In rare moments, Trump has been booed by his supporters at rallies and other public appearances when he says they should get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The 45th president on Tuesday evening said he was ‘very appreciative’ of President Joe Biden paying tribute to his administration’s efforts to create the vaccine – adding that he was ‘surprised to hear it.’

Biden several hours prior had commended his predecessor for leading efforts to make the U.S. one of the first countries in the world to get a vaccine against COVID-19.

‘Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine,’ Biden said Tuesday afternoon. 

‘Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a rollout that made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms,’ the president added.

Trump, who has frequently complained about not getting enough credit for his decisions in pushing the vaccine manufacture, said he was pleasantly surprised by the president’s words.

‘I’m very appreciative of that – I was surprised to hear it,’ Trump told Fox News Digital.  

The comment comes as the U.S. sees a surge in COVID cases, with some states seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases since the pandemic began – and as the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread across the nation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data this week showing that Omicron now accounts for 73 percent of U.S. Covid cases. The prevalence of the variant has jumped six fold week-over-week, from 2.9 percent to 12.6 percent, and has overtaken the Delta variant, which had been the nation’s dominant strain since July.  

U.S. experts have warned that the virus could infect 140 million people between January and March – 60 percent of all Americans.

America is currently averaging 148,384 daily cases, a 23 percent increase from two weeks ago, and Omicron cases have increased by 19 percent day-over-day to about 2,084. 

Trump said he was surprised when Joe Biden praised the previous administration for its strides on getting the vaccine developed 

On Wednesday, the US recorded a staggering 238,378 new daily infections, and 2,024 new deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the US has recorded 51.5 million cases of COVID-19 and 812,069 deaths.

The Omicron variant now accounts for 73 percent of new cases in the US and pushes Europe to the brink of fresh lockdowns. In hard-hit states like New York, the variant is estimated to account for more than 90 percent of cases. So far, it has been confirmed in 2,756 cases and accounts for at least one death in a man in Texas.

In regard to Biden’s comment on Tuesday, Trump also told Fox News: ‘I think it was a terrific thing, and I think it makes a lot of people happy.

‘I think he did something very good. 

‘You know, it has to be a process of healing in this country, and that will help a lot.’

The 75-year-old – who on Sunday was booed during a tour stop with former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, when he confirmed he had had the booster shot – said Americans should be ‘really happy’ about having access to vaccines.

‘When we came up with these incredible vaccines – three of them – and therapeutics, we did a tremendous job, and we should never disparage them,’ Trump said. 

‘We should be really happy about it because we’ve all saved millions and millions of lives all over the world.’

Trump in May 2020 announced Operation Warp Speed (OWS) – a partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Defense – aimed to help accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

OWS has invested an estimated $18 billion, mostly in the late-stage clinical development and early manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, and has agreements in place to buy 455 million doses.

The scheme is by far the largest of the global efforts for development of COVID-19 vaccines.

By comparison, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) – founded in Davos by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the World Economic Forum – has invested $1·4 billion in support of the development of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Their vaccines, unlike those from OWS, are intended for a global audience.

Trump in December 2020 also signed an executive order that would ensure all Americans had access to coronavirus vaccines before the U.S. government could begin aiding nations around the world.

Infection rates are massively spiking with the emergence and spread of the Omicron variant just days before Christmas

‘This is a great thing that we all did,’ Trump said, referring to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines. 

‘I may have been the vehicle, but we all did this together.’

Biden and Trump spoke as COVID-19 is once again surging across the U.S., and the new Omicron variant is gaining ground.

On Tuesday cases nationwide were up 29 per cent compared to two weeks ago, and deaths were up four per cent.

In Trump’s hometown of New York City, cases have surged in recent days to more than 15,000 on Monday – the highest level since at least January and about four times the number of cases recorded just one week earlier.

Hospitalizations in the city have been rising over the past month but are still at less than half the level of last winter’s peak, reaching about 270 new admissions a day on Monday, according to New York State figures.

The city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, on Tuesday offered $100 for any New Yorker who have not received their booster to do so. 

Trump said vaccinations and the booster were the answer. 

‘You have to embrace it. You don’t have to do it, and there can’t be mandates and all those things, but you have to embrace it,’ he said. 

‘It’s a matter of getting people out to, ideally, get the vaccine. 

‘If you have the mandate, the mandate will destroy people’s lives – it destroys people’s lives, just as the vaccine saves people.’

He added: ‘I think that it’s really a question of tone. It’s a question of trust, and hopefully, the people that have had COVID, hopefully they will be given credit for that.’

Trump predicted that those who have already been infected with COVID-19 are ‘in pretty good shape of not getting it again, or getting it in a much lighter way.’

‘They probably won’t catch it, but if they do get it, it’s not going to be nearly as severe, and there probably won’t be hospitals involved,’ Trump said.

The only person in the U.S. confirmed to have died from Omicron so far is someone who had already caught COVID before.

Asked what he thought of Biden’s strategy of ending travel from Southern African nations, but continuing domestic and international travel, Trump demurred. 

‘It is a little tough to be overly critical now, because he just thanked us for the vaccine and thanked me for what I did,’ Trump said. 

‘You know, that’s a first – so it is very tough for me to be overly critical now.

‘But, you know, we did shut it down, and we were criticized by some — we weren’t criticized by all. 

‘And ultimately, they said we did the right thing. I think we saved hundreds of thousands of lives in our country by closing it down to China and then ultimately closing it down to Europe very early.

‘I think people understand that now.’