Trump claims total credit for vaccines almost exactly a year after saying Covid would disappear ‘like a miracle’

Ex-president says he handed Joe Biden a ‘modern day medical miracle’

Donald Trump claimed total credit for the Covid-19 vaccines in a speech to the conservative CPAC conference in Florida almost exactly a year after saying the virus would disappear ‘like a miracle.’

The ex-president said that his administration was responsible for a “modern day medical miracle” and that Republicans should get all the praise for fighting the coronavirus.

“As conservatives and Republicans, never forget that we did it, never let them take the credit, they don’t deserve the credit, they are following our plan, this is something they call an absolute miracle,” said Mr Trump.

“Joe Biden is implementing the plan that we put in place. “

The Biden administration has said that when they entered the White House there was no federal plan for distributing the much-needed vaccines.

But Mr Trump told the audience at CPAC on Sunday that he was responsible for ensuring the country developed the vaccine and for saving lives.

“When I left office and we are very proud of this, it was something they said could not be done, the FDA said it, everybody said it, couldn’t be done, would be years and years.

“I handed the new administration what everyone is now calling a modern day medical miracle, some people say it is the greatest thing to happen in hundreds of years.”

And he added: “What the Trump administration has done with vaccines has in many respects saved large portions of the world, not just our country, but large portions of the world.”

The former president said on 27 February last year that the virus was “going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Mr Trump also said in his first major speech since leaving office that he also wanted credit for the increased number of vaccine doses now available.

“It takes 60 to 100 days to manufacture and inspect new doses, so that means 100 per cent of the increased availability we have now was initiated by our administration, 100 per cent,” he added.

While in office Mr Trump repeatedly played down the virus, mocked people for wearing masks, contradicted his experts and pushed quack cures.

Following the election his own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, reportedly said in a 27-page post-mortem that one of the reasons he lost to Joe Biden was that voters in 10 key states felt he had mishandled the pandemic and was untrustworthy.