Trump’s surgeon general thinks ex-president publicly supported vaccines because of Biden praise

Mr Trump recently began encouraging his supporters to get the Covid-19 vaccine after months of refusing to do so publicly

Former president Donald Trump’s recent statements promoting Covid-19 vaccines are the result of President Joe Biden’s praise for his predecessor’s administration’s vaccine development efforts, ex-surgeon general Dr Jerome Adams has said.

Mr Trump, who was alone among living former US presidents in not participating in a public service announcement to promote the vaccines earlier this year, drew boos at an appearance last weekend after he said that he had received a booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine.

On Tuesday, Mr Biden credited Mr Trump’s administration for pushing to develop the vaccine, and Mr Trump again spoke positively of the jab in an interview with anti-vaccine conservative commentator Candace Owens the next day.

"The vaccine worked. But some people aren't taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine," he said. "But it's still their choice, and if you take the vaccine, you're protected”.

Mr Trump continued: "Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it's a very minor form. People aren't dying when they take the vaccine."

Dr Adams, who served as the US surgeon general from 2017 to 20 January of this year, told CNN on Thursday that Mr Trump’s newfound willingness to promote the vaccine could be attributed to Mr Biden’s positive comments about the Trump administration’s role in developing it.

Speaking during an appearance on CNN, Dr Adams said Mr Trump’s “love language” is “words of affirmation”.

“Once [Mr Biden] 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,” he said.

Asked by host John Berman if Mr Trump had waited to say anything positive about the benefits of vaccination until Mr Biden thanked him for pushing to develop them, Dr Adams responded: "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,” he said. "And regardless, that's a good thing”.