On Sunday, Donald Trump answered “Yes” when Bill O’Reilly asked him if he had taken a booster COVID shot. This lead to a few boos from the crowd. The former president, who had often undermined health officials, received similar treatment from his own ardent supporters for taking the booster shot. He told them that it was their choice whether they took a shot or not but urged them to take credit for the vaccine because vaccines had saved millions of lives.
Donald Trump was in Dallas, Texas, along with Bill O Reilly, a former host of Fox News. It was their final stop of a four city tour called “History Tour.” O’Reilly said in a video that both “the president and I are vaxxed.” He then turned to Trump and asked, “Did you get the booster?” Trump replied “Yes.” The conservative host said, “I did, too.” The video was shared on Twitter by O’Reilly’s “No Spin News.” There were a few boos from the audience. Trump responded by saying “don’t” several times and waving his hand and said that it was a tiny group, pointing towards them.
In a longer video shared later by “No Spin News” Trump also described getting the vaccines as “historic”. He said that they were “playing right into their hand when you” [had doubts about the vaccine]. He said that they should take credit for getting the vaccine done as it had saved tens of millions of lives, worldwide. Trump, however, also said that they did not want to take it, they should not be “forced” to take it, signaling his opposition to vaccine mandates.
At an August rally in Alabama, he was also booed by a section of the crowd when he spoke about vaccinations.
On Tuesday morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that he was very pleased that Trump had publicly said that he had been vaccinated and boosted. The nation’s top expert on infectious disease appeared on CNN’s “New Day.” He also commented that being booed showed the divisiveness of a public health issue that should not be so but should focus “on what the public health principles are.”
