Former US President Donald Trump has urged his supporters to embrace Covid-19 vaccines, which he credited with preventing the pandemic from becoming as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak.
“We did something that was historic,” Trump said on Sunday at an event in Dallas. “We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide.” He also revealed that he had received a vaccine booster shot, eliciting a smattering of boos from the audience, which Trump attributed to “a very tiny group over there.”
The former president has tried to walk a fine line between taking credit for fast-tracking the development of Covid-19 vaccines and appealing to a voter base that is largely skeptical of the jabs. He found common ground on Sunday by emphasizing that vaccines shouldn’t be mandated.
Trump argued that, if not for the vaccines, Covid-19 might have been as catastrophic as the Spanish flu, which is estimated to have killed at least 50 million people worldwide. The current pandemic has been blamed for more than 5.3 million deaths. The world’s population has more than quadrupled since 1918.
“This was going to ravage the country, far beyond what it is right now,” Trump said. “Take credit for it.” He added that, by discrediting the vaccines, “you’re playing right into their hands.”
“What we’ve done is historic. Don’t let them take it away. Don’t take it away from ourselves.”