Donald Trump On Tuesday evening he said he ‘greatly appreciates’ the president Joe Biden Paying tribute to his administration’s efforts to create a vaccine – saying he was ‘shocked to hear it’.
Biden several hours ago praised his predecessor for pioneering efforts to make America one of the first countries in the world to get a vaccine against it. COVID-19,
“Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, the US is one of the first countries to get a vaccine,” Biden said Tuesday afternoon.
“Thanks to the hard work of my administration and the Americans, we led a rollout that made America one of the world leaders in taking shots at weapons,” the president said.
Trump, who has often complained about not getting enough credit for his decisions in advancing vaccine manufacturing, said he was pleasantly surprised by the president’s words.
Trump said, ‘I appreciate it very much – I was shocked to hear this Fox News digital.
The comments come as the US sees a surge in COVID cases, with some states seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases since the pandemic began – and as the highly permeable Omicron version continues to spread nationwide.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data this week showing that Omicron now accounts for 73 percent of US Covid cases. The variant’s prevalence has jumped six-fold week-on-week, from 2.9 percent to 12.6 percent, and has surpassed the delta variant, which was the country’s major strain since July.
Joe Biden is seen speaking about COVID-19 from the White House on Tuesday. In his speech, he paid tribute to the Trump administration
Donald Trump, seen on October 30, said he was pleasantly surprised that Biden credits his administration
Regarding Biden’s remarks, Trump also told Fox News: ‘I think it was a great thing, and I think it makes a lot of people happy.
‘I think he did something really cool.
‘You know, it should be a healing process in this country, and that would help a lot.’
The 75-year-old – who was booed during a tour stop with former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly on Sunday after he confirmed he had a booster shot – said the US was ‘really’ about access to vaccines. ‘ Huh. I should be happy
“When we came up with these incredible vaccines – three of them – and the medical science, we did a great job and we should never disregard them,” Trump said.
‘We should be really happy about it because we all have saved millions and millions of lives around the world.’
In May 2020 Trump announced Operation Warp Speed (OWS) – a partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Defense – aimed at helping accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
OWS has invested an estimated $18 billion, mostly in late clinical development and early manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, and has agreements to purchase 455 million doses.
The plan is the largest ever in a global effort to develop COVID-19 vaccines.
By comparison, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) – founded in Davos by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and the World Economic Forum – has invested $4 billion in support of development. of COVID-19 vaccines.
Their vaccines, unlike OWS, are intended for a global audience.
In December 2020, Trump also signed an executive order that would ensure that all Americans have vaccines for the coronavirus before the US government begins aiding countries around the world.
Referring to the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, Trump said, “It’s a great thing that we all did.”
‘I could have been the vehicle, but we all did this together.’
Biden and Trump talk once again as COVID-19 continues across America, and the new Omicron version is gaining ground.
On Tuesday, cases across the country were 29 per cent higher than two weeks ago and there was a four per cent increase in deaths.
In Trump’s hometown of New York City, cases on Monday exceeded 15,000 in recent days – the highest level since at least January and nearly four times the number of cases reported a week ago.
Hospitalizations in the city are down over the past month, but are still at less than half of last winter’s peak, reaching nearly 270 new admissions a day on Monday, according to New York state data.
The city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, on Tuesday offered $100 for any New Yorker who hasn’t got his booster to do so.
Trump said vaccinations and boosters were the answer.
‘You have to embrace it. You don’t have to do it, and it may not have mandates and all those things, but you have to embrace it,’ he said.
‘It’s a matter of getting people out, ideally, get vaccinated.
‘If you have a mandate, a mandate will destroy people’s lives – it destroys people’s lives, just like a vaccine saves people.’
He added: ‘I think it’s really a question of tone. It is a question of trust, and hopefully those who have had COVID, hopefully they will be given credit for it.’
Trump predicted that people who have already been infected with COVID-19 are ‘in very good shape not to get it again, or to get it in a very mild way’.
“They probably won’t catch it, but if they do catch it, it won’t be nearly as serious, and it probably won’t involve hospitals,” Trump said.
The only person to have died in the US so far was confirmed from Omicron, who had already caught COVID.
Asked what he thinks of Biden’s strategy of ending travel from southern African countries but continuing domestic and international travel, Trump deferred.
Trump said, ‘It’s a little difficult to be excessively critical now, because he thanked us for the vaccine and thanked me for what I did.
‘You know, this is the first time – so it’s very hard for me to be overly critical now.
‘But, you know, we rejected it, and some people criticized us – not everyone criticized us.
’ And in the end, he said we did the right thing. I think we saved hundreds of thousands of lives by closing our country to China and eventually closing it to Europe very quickly.
‘I think people understand it now.’