Biden dismissed the suggestion that it would be helpful to have former president Donald Trump out advocating for his supporters to get vaccinated, saying his focus is on engaging local doctors and others in communities where people might be skeptical.
Biden said he had talked to his team about the role Trump might play and they told him, “the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, what the local preachers, what the local people in the community say.”
Earlier, White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave a similar answer when a reporter asked her to reflect on a comment made by top federal infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci that Trump encouraging his supporters to get vaccinated would be a “game changer.”
“Well, if former president Trump woke up tomorrow and wanted to be more vocal about the safety and efficacy of the of the vaccine, certainly we’d support that,” Psaki said. “But also, I think what’s important to note is that, as I noted, 81 percent of Republicans said they would trust their own doctor or health-care provider and that’s an important place to invest.”
“Every other living former president or most of them, if not all of them, has participated in public campaigns. They did not need an engraved invitation to do so,” Psaki added, referring to a public service ad featuring ex-Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
If Trump wanted to help, then “great,” she said, “but there are a lot of different ways to engage, to reach out, to ensure that people of a range of political support and backing know the vaccine is safe and effective.”