Former President Donald Trump released a statement on Wednesday evening reminding Americans that the COVID-19 vaccines were created and facilitated by his administration and under his leadership.
“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!” he said.
Trump’s comments come shortly after President Joe Biden’s chief of staff bragged, using a graphic from failed budget nominee Neera Tanden’s leftist thinktank, that vaccinations under Biden were up significantly compared to the number of shots administered under Trump.
There was nothing inevitable about this much progress in this short a time. https://t.co/TXJU2JsJwb
— Jeff Zients (@WHCOS) March 10, 2021
Trump’s words also follow months of journalists, so-called experts, and verified Twitter users casting doubt on his administration’s Operation Warp Speed and its efforts to push and facilitate the creation, production, and distribution of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.
“Biden, Seizing on Worries of a Rushed Vaccine, Warns Trump Can’t Be Trusted,” The New York Times wrote.
“Trump Vaccine Chief Casts Doubt on Coronavirus Vaccine by Election Day,” was another NYT headline.
“Trump promises coronavirus vaccine by end of the year, but his own experts temper expectations,” said an ABC News headline in May.
“HHS whistleblower says coronavirus vaccine won’t be ready in 18 months: ‘We’ve never seen everything go perfectly’,” another May CNBC headline reads.
“Vaccines for Millions Ready This Year: The Impossible Dream?” speculated Bloomberg that same month.
“Contradicting The CDC, Trump Says COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Ready By End Of Year,” NPR published.
While many of them called the mission “preposterous” and “impossible,” issuing premature “fact-checks” on Trump and his vice president’s vaccine optimism, the first round of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the United States in mid-December to health-care workers in New York.
