CNN Medical Expert Says Trump ‘Should Get On His Soap Box And Start Getting His Acolytes To Get Vaccinated’

CNN medical expert Dr. Jonathan Reiner told CNN Newsroom anchor Ana Cabrera that while former President Donald Trump deserved credit for helping facilitate the development of the Covid-19 vaccines, he had done “nothing” to encourage his supporters to actually get vaccinated.

Cabrera cited a recent CNN poll that showed 92 percent of Democrats had either already gotten the vaccine or wanted to, but that number plummeted to 50 percent among Republicans, and asked Reiner why he thought that was happening.

Reiner pointed to the “enormous vaccine hesitancy” among Republicans, because “the vaccine has not been promoted this to group, and indeed, for months and months and months, the pandemic was presented as a hoax to this group by the former president.”

Reiner noted how Trump had issued a statement earlier this week taking credit for the vaccine, which he called “fantastic” for its power to influence his supporters to get vaccinated, but called him out for not actually promoting vaccinations. Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump were vaccinated in January, but did not inform the public at that time. All other living former U.S. Presidents and First Ladies released videos getting their vaccines.

The Trump administration, said Reiner, “deserves a lot of credit for facilitating the vaccines, but they’ve done nothing, he did nothing to promote vaccinations among people who really rally around him. And if he wants to do something in his post-presidency, he should get on his soap box and start getting his acolytes to get vaccinated.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” replied Cabrera,”that’s for sure.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.