‘I Will Never Waver’: Candace Owens Defends Opposition to Vaccines After Trump Tells Her He’s Pro-Vaccine
Candace Owens found herself on the defensive regarding her opposition to Covid-19 vaccines Thursday after former President Donald Trump told her in a new interview he views them as both safe and effective.
Owens interviewed Trump for The Daily Wire from his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. Snippets of the interview have gone viral online, particularly an exchange about vaccines. Thursday, Owens reacted to reporting from the interview from The Daily Beast, which had keyed in on her exchange with Trump over vaccines.
Owens took issue with how the moment was framed. The outlet reported, “Trump Rebukes Candace Owens’ Anti-Vax Talking Points: ‘The Vaccine Works.’”
“What?! LOL This is such a dishonest headline. Trump did not push back against anything I said,” Owens wrote on Twitter. “We agreed that vaccine mandates and masking children are wrong. He simply expressed that he believes vaccines work and people should get them.”
What?! LOL This is such a dishonest headline. Trump did not push back against anything I said.
We agreed that vaccine mandates and masking children are wrong. He simply expressed that he believes vaccines work and people should get them. https://t.co/YhrNdUjWCV— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) December 23, 2021
Moments later, she mounted a defense of her position on vaccines in a series of tweets, claiming she will never consider being jabbed.
I will never waver in my perspective that anything that requires a mass fear campaign, censorship, coercion, threats, and bribery to make people comply is not rooted in health or science.
I do not trust the vaccine and I will never be too fearful to express my viewpoint. https://t.co/ldtVkZDA07— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) December 23, 2021
During her interview with the former president, Owens asked Trump, “Where do you stand these vaccine mandates,” and noted that she was aware that Trump is “pro-vaccine.”
“It was one of the greatest achievements,” said Trump, in a reference to his administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which expedited the development of vaccinations by cutting red tape for pharmaceutical companies. “We did it in less than nine months.”
Owens later said, “Yet more people have died under COVID this year, by the way, under Joe Biden, than under you and more people took the vaccine this year. So people are questioning how…”
“Oh no, the vaccines work,” Trump cut in. “But some people are the ones — the ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected.”
Trump ultimately concluded, “People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.” The former president’s comments about vaccines and boosters in recent days have shocked some people. While Trump was booed last week by some of his supporters for divulging he had received a booster shot, President Joe Biden on Tuesday offered his White House predecessor some rare praise.
