Ex-Trump Admin Covid Testing Czar AND HHS Secretary Urge Booster Shots as Former President Undermines Efforts
A former Trump administration Cabinet official and one member of the Trump administration’s covid-19 task force are publicly supporting booster shots as former President Donald Trump himself is undermining that effort.
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that booster shots will be available to Americans in September, for people to get 8 months after their last shot. Trump reacted by saying it sounds like “a money-making operation for Pfizer.”
On Fox News, Admiral Brett Giroir — who served as Trump administration covid testing czar last year — affirmed that “based on the data that we have, 8 months after the second shot is reasonable to get a booster.”
While he has been critical of the CDC’s messaging — even calling it a “disaster” — he commended the press conference earlier Wednesday, and reiterated, “Yes, I do support the booster shot after 8 months. It’s going to help keep the rest of us even safer, but we have to focus on the unvaccinated population who have not had covid. Please get your vaccine if you’re in that group.”
Meanwhile on Fox Business, Neil Cauvto spoke with Tom Price, who served as Health and Human Services Secretary for the first few months of the Trump administration before resigning amid scrutiny over taxpayer-funded charter flights, and asked him if people will need the booster shots.
Price likened it to people getting annual flu shots, saying, “As your immunity begins to decrease, because that can happen, and it’s been demonstrated it does happen, then a booster shot’s necessary. And people ought to look at it just like they would the kind of public health things they need to be doing to keep themselves safe and their families safe.”
Cavuto then played the clip of Trump earlier and asked Price for his reaction.
“Do you, as a doctor, as a former Health and Human Services Secretary, regret that he cast doubt on these boosters?”
“Everybody is open to their own opinion,” Price responded, “but I will tell you that the science is clearly, clearly behind the need for booster shots in this instance, especially because we’re seeing these other variants.”
Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as Surgeon General in the Trump administration, similarly weighed in on discussions about booster shots earlier this week.
A) We need to continue to evolve our policies as the virus evolves.
B) I and most other experts have said from the start this was a possibility- and one we can deal with.Biden administration to announce most Americans will need coronavirus booster shots https://t.co/rlkga0DJrL
— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) August 17, 2021
You can watch Giroir and Price’s comments above, via Fox News and Fox Business.
