Trump’s Surgeon General Suggests Ex-President Was Waiting for Biden to Praise Him Before Touting Vaccines

Former surgeon general Jerome Adams suggested Thursday that former President Donald Trump had been waiting to promote the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines until he received praise from President Joe Biden.

“Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America was one of the first countries to get the vaccine,” Biden said in a speech on Tuesday. “Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a roll out, made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms.”

Adams joined CNN’s John Berman on AC360 to discuss Trump’s comments to conservative commentator Candace Owens in which he strongly pushed back against the notion that the vaccines are dangerous or ineffective.

Adams told Berman:

We know the president’s love language is words of affirmation. We know Joe Biden is known for his cooperation. So to me, what was most shocking, what was most telling, wasn’t that Donald Trump came out and supported vaccines. It was that it took Joe Biden 11 months to finally do what he has been known to do for 79 years, and that’s to reach out across the aisle. Once he gave President Trump those words of affirmation, you heard president Trump come out and say, “Thank you, I appreciate that.” And he applauded it. And I hope we see more of that.

Berman appeared incredulous by Adams’ comments.

“Come on, Dr. Adams,” he said. “I mean, are you are telling me that Donald Trump didn’t praise vaccines or boosters until Joe Biden decided to thank him for the vaccines? That’s what he was waiting for?”

Adams responded:

Well, John, I am a psychiatry major, and again — psychology major. People have different words of affirmation, different love languages. That’s the truth. That is when you saw Donald Trump change his tune. I’m not saying it’s right, I’m not saying it’s  wrong. I’m saying you can’t deny that that is when he changed his tune and came out and supported vaccinations. And regardless, that’s a good thing. The point that we should be discussing is how do we get more people out there on both sides of the aisle talking about vaccinations and boosters. Because far too many people are un-boosted. Thirty percent, 30% boost rate right now. That’s not good enough. We’re not anywhere near herd immunity, and that’s why this virus continues to torment us.

Berman said, “I have to tell you, I’ll take anything that helps getting people out there getting vaccinated and boosted. But I have to say, if it just took a thank you to get Trump to do it several hundred thousand deaths later, it’s pretty pathetic, isn’t it?”

Adams said:

Well, we can say it’s pathetic. We can debate it back and forth. We can also say it’s pathetic that it took this long for a new administration to reach out in any way, shape or form. I talk with people in the White House. I can tell you from inside the White House, there’s a real political pushback at engaging anyone from the Trump administration, and acknowledging that they can anything right. I’m hearing this from inside the White House. I have always said, Democrat, Republican, Biden supporter, Trump supporter, we need cooperation because the enemy is the virus. And at the end of the day, we can make a political story about this or wean say kudos to Biden and kudos to Trump. And let’s hope we see more of this.

Adams concluded that if Trump and Biden can work together to promote vaccinations, then it serves as evidence the rest of the country can work out its differences. Biden on Tuesday offered unprecedented praise of Trump relating to his administration’s efforts to develop the three available Covid vaccines.

Trump told Owens in his interview with her that he believes in the ability of vaccines to prevent severe illness and death.

“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 said. “People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

Despite Adams’ claim that Biden’s praise elicited a support for vaccines from Trump, the country’s 45th president actually stated Sunday night that he had received a booster shot while appearing at an event with Bill O’Reilly. When a contingent of his own supporters booed him, he was dismissive of them.

Watch above, via CNN.