The political pundits experienced no little discomfort this week when both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump acknowledged some common realities about COVID-19 vaccines. First, speaking on Sunday, Dec. 19 on Fox, Trump reported that he had gotten his booster vaccine shot. Then, he repeated his previous comments on his 2020 scientific crash program: “Look, we did something that was historic. We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. We, together, all of us—not me, we—we got a vaccine done, three vaccines done, and tremendous therapeutics.” During his Dec. 21 address, Biden said: “Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine.” The President has not always been forthcoming about the role of the Trump administration’s crash program to create vaccines, Operation Warp Speed—nor about the fact that other countries (that is, the unnamed China and Russia) administered COVID-19 vaccines prior to the U.S.
That evening, Trump said that he was “surprised” and “appreciative” of Biden’s acknowledgment. “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. You know, that’s a first—so it is very tough for me to be overly critical now.… 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.” Trump went on to encourage Americans to “embrace” vaccination—with the qualification that he still opposes using a mandate, as “it destroys people’s lives, just as the vaccine saves people.”
