Former President Donald Trump said during a Newsmax interview on Friday morning that “young people shouldn’t get” the COVID-19 vaccine, arguing their immune systems are “very strong.”
“I’m the vaccine person,” Trump said during a call-in interview on “Wake Up America.”
“I don’t think that children should get it and I think people should have the freedom on getting it,” he added. “They can’t be forced because they do have rights.”
Trump added “I don’t think young people, you know with young people, their immune system is very strong … you can look at, there’s one area where 35,000 people died in a certain state, and they had nobody below the age of, I think, 16, died. Nobody. They had one person, I think that had a serious condition, a precondition.”
He added, “So I just feel young people shouldn’t get it. They don’t need it.”
"I don't think that children should get it and I think people should have the freedom on getting it. They can't be forced because they do have rights," Former President Trump discusses the COVID-19 vaccine with @FinnertyUSA. https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/149twpAcQm
— Newsmax (@newsmax) June 25, 2021
Trump also noted his relationship with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci: “I didn’t listen to [Fauci] too much. Had I listened to him, it would’ve been not so good.”
TRUMP: "I didn't listen to [Fauci] too much. Had I listened to him, it would've been not so good…he was actually saying masks were a bad thing." https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/iU45PYcXYN
— Newsmax (@newsmax) June 25, 2021
The comments came as President Joe Biden’s administration recently announced it was unlikely to reach its goal of 70 percent of American adults being vaccinated by July 4.
Jeffrey Zients, the head of the White House COVID-19 response team, highlighted the positives of the vaccination program despite admitting the administration’s goal likely would not be met, according to ANI News.
“We set 70 percent of adults as our aspirational target. We have met or exceeded it for most of our population. This is a remarkable achievement,” he said.
“Today, nearly 80 percent of people 65 and older are fully vaccinated. … For Americans who are 40 years old and over, 75 percent have received at least one shot.
“For Americans 30 and older, we have met the president’s goal of one shot. That’s right, we have met the president’s 70 percent goal of all Americans 30 and over,” he said.
But as for all adults, meaning everyone 18 and over, Biden’s administration needs “a few extra weeks,” he said, according to NBC News.
“The reality is, many younger Americans have felt like COVID-19 is not something that impacts them and have been less eager to get the shot,” he said.
The Trump interview also highlights the increased pressure many parents are facing to vaccinate their children.
A growing number of schools and college campuses are encouraging or even requiring vaccination of students, including Rhodes College in Memphis, which plans to charge unvaccinated students an extra $1,500 per semester, WATN-TV reported.
