- The former president has heavily endorsed the COVID-19 vaccine in recent weeks.
- In an OAN interview this week, he reiterated his stance and said he got no side effects from his booster.
- He also criticized politicians who were being vague about their booster-shot status.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed COVID-19 vaccines again and blasted “gutless” politicians who won’t say if they’ve been boosted.
In an interview with the far-right One America News network, Trump said he was pro-vaccination and that he experienced “absolutely no side effects” after receiving his booster shot.
The interview was pre-recorded at the former president’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida on Monday and aired on OAN on Tuesday night.
Trump also slammed politicians who had been vague about whether they had received their COVID-19 booster shots.
“Many politicians — I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ because they had the vaccine — and they’re answering it like … ‘yes’ but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless,” Trump told the OAN presenter Dan Ball.
“You gotta say it, whether you had it or not. Say it. But the fact is that I think the vaccines saved tens of millions throughout the world.”
Trump did not name the politicians who he said were not disclosing their vaccination status.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally and possible 2024 contender, was criticized last month for giving an unclear answer as to whether or not he had been boosted.
When asked by Fox News, DeSantis responded: “So, I’ve done whatever I did … The normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people’s individual decisions about what they want to do.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also given mixed messages.
After Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 in August, NBC News reported that Abbott had told people that he received a booster shot, but his spokesperson told The Texas Tribune she wasn’t “aware of any booster.”
As of Tuesday, just over 36% of the US population has received COVID-19 booster shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two-thirds of the population received two doses of the vaccine, the CDC data said.
Much of Trump’s base is anti-vaccination. Last month, Trump told his supporters not to boo after revealing at a live interview that he had received a booster shot.
