Former President Trump urged all Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine in a Fox News exclusive interview on Tuesday, touting its efficacy as both "a safe vaccine" and "something that works."
Trump was asked by "Fox News Premetime" host Maria Bartiromo whether he would advise viewers to get the COVID-19 vaccine developed under his administration's Operation Warp Speed.
Unlike President Joe Biden, Trump did not publicly receive the vaccine, but Fox News confirmed earlier this month that both he and former first lady Melania Trump received their vaccines privately in January at the White House.
"I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly," Trump told Bartiromo.
"It is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works," he said.
Trump took the opportunity to criticize what he sees as Biden’s attempt to take credit for his vaccine accomplishments, telling Bartiromo that without his administration's efforts to obtain FDA emergency approval, Americans wouldn't receive a vaccine for years.
"We have been working around the clock and what I got the FDA to do, this would have happened... in many, many years from now if I didn't get involved," he said.
Trump lauded his administration for taking a "big bet" to manufacture "the vaccine before we really knew what works."
"We saved many months and millions of lives by doing that," he said.
"It works incredibly well. 95%, maybe even more than that...and it is really saving our country and it is saving frankly the world."
