Former presidents join forces in ad to encourage COVID vaccines as Trump takes credit
Former presidents and first ladies encouraged Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine in two new advertisements — while former President Donald Trump took credit for the vaccines.
One of the ads, titled “It’s Up To You” and posted Wednesday to YouTube, shows former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Rosalynn Carter getting their shots while discussing the importance of the coronavirus vaccine.
“This vaccine means hope,” President Obama said in the ad.
The second ad shows three of the former presidents — Obama, Bush and Clinton — sharing information about the vaccines and again encouraging Americans to get it.
“The science is clear,” Bush said. “These vaccines will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.”
Trump did not participate in either ad.
On Wednesday, he released a statement taking credit for the availability of the coronavirus vaccines, saying that if he hadn’t been president “you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all.”
“I hope everyone remembers,” Trump said.
Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were vaccinated at the White House in January, sources later told Axios. They did not reveal at the time that they had received their vaccine.
The 45th president did say during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) late last month that “everybody” should “go get your shot,” Axios reports.
Former Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton previously agreed to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a public setting or on camera to encourage other Americans to do the same as vaccine hesitancy has remained an issue during the coronavirus vaccine roll-out.
A Pew Research Center poll, however, found more Americans say they’re willing to get vaccinated than when the shot was first available.
The poll, released March 5, found 69% of Americans intend to or have already received the vaccine, up from 60% who said they planned to get vaccinated in November.
As of Wednesday, more than 62 million Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Joe Biden’s administration has launched an effort to vaccinate 100 million Americans by his first 100 days in office.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Former presidents join forces in ad to encourage COVID vaccines as Trump takes credit."
