Former President Donald Trump was booed at a rally in Alabama on Saturday after advising supporters to obtain vaccines. ‘And you know what? I believe totally in your freedoms. I do. You’ve got to do what you have to do. But I recommend taking the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines,’ Trump said.
The crowd, which was mostly maskless, sent out a few boos.
‘No, that’s OK. That’s all right. You got your freedoms,’ Trump said, echoing the anti-mask and anti-vaccination sentiments of opponents. ‘But I happened to take the vaccine. If it doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know. OK? I’ll call up Alabama, I’ll say, hey, you know what? But [the vaccine] is working. But you do have the freedoms you have to keep. You have to maintain that.’
The extremely infectious delta form of the coronavirus is causing an increase in Covid cases and hospitalizations over much of the South. Cullman, where the rally was held, is seeing an increase in instances that is on par with its prior high from late December. To give extra emergency support for the demonstration, the city announced a Covid state of emergency on Thursday.
Also Read: Sony takes action against hackers, pulls down allegedly leaked SpiderMan trailer
According to an NBC News tracker, Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate in the US, with just over 36% of its people completely vaccinated. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has blamed Covid rise in the state on ‘the unvaccinated folks.’
The New York Times revealed last month that unvaccinated people account for the vast majority of Covid hospitalizations and fatalities nationwide.
Republicans were the second-least likely demographic group to be vaccinated, behind only uninsured Americans under 65, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation vaccination monitoring poll issued this month. While 57 percent of Republicans have had at least one vaccination dosage or said they will get one as soon as feasible, 40 percent stated that they will never get one, would only do so if it is needed or are still waiting to see what happens. The 40% figure is the second-highest of the 23 demographic groups polled.
Trump has previously backed vaccination, but he has always accompanied it with similar cautions. After promoting the vaccinations in an appearance with Fox Business presenter Maria Bartiromo last week, Trump said that the Biden administration advocated booster doses as ‘a money-making operation for Pfizer.’ (The Biden administration recommended booster shots for those who received Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shots.)
Trump’s administration’s Operation Warp Speed, a public-private collaboration to expedite vaccine research, did not include Pfizer, which he has previously criticised in a similar manner. Moderna, which was part of the program, was not mentioned by Trump.
Post Your Comments