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Fauci says Trump ‘poisoned the well’ on vaccines before speaking in favour of the jab

Former president drawing fire from some of biggest boosters for encouraging followers to get vaccinated and boosted

Andrew Feinberg
Washington DC
Tuesday 28 December 2021 20:47 GMT
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Dr Anthony Fauci says US should 'seriously consider' vaccine mandate for domestic flights
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White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has said he hoped Donald Trump “keeps up” his new found advocacy for Covid-19 vaccines - but lamented how the ex-president sowed the seeds of hesitancy to getting a jab among his supporters for many months.

Speaking during an interview on CNN, Dr Fauci told correspondent Kaitlan Collins that the mixed signals Mr Trump sent by refusing to participate in public service campaigns or publicly acknowledge that he’d been vaccinated made an impression on many Americans.

"Poisoning the well early on about — even not being enthusiastic or outright not pushing vaccines and discouraging vaccines now has a lingering effect," said Dr Fauci, who has served as director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease since the Reagan administration.

"Even when you come out and say, 'Go get vaccinated,' some of the people that have been following his every word and what he does are now pushing back and not listening," he added.

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Earlier this week, the veteran virologist told ABC News that he was “stunned” to see Mr Trump get booed by his own supporters after he revealed that he’d received a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot.

Addressing his prior comments, Dr Fauci said the booing of any positive mention of the vaccine — even by Mr Trump — shows “the strength of the divisiveness in our society,” which he called “the biggest stumbling block about getting this pandemic under control”.

"It really is no place for divisiveness, politically, when you have a classical, historical, unprecedented pandemic," he said. "I mean, it just doesn't make any sense”.

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