Biden says ‘local preachers’ are better than Trump for convincing ‘MAGA people’ to take COVID-19 vaccine

President Biden argued on Monday that “local preachers” and other community leaders would be more influential than Donald Trump in their efforts to convince “people at MAGA” who are skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines to get vaccinated.

As he left the stage after a press conference on the implementation of his $ 1.9 trillion “US bailout”, Biden was asked to say if he thought Trump “should help promote the vaccine among the skeptics ”. In response, the president said he “hears a lot of reports” supporting this view, but his team downplayed the importance of Trump’s involvement.

“I’ve discussed this with my team and they say the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to ‘MAGA folks’ is what the local doctor, what the local preacher, what the locals of the community say, “Biden said. “So I urge all local doctors, ministers and priests to talk about why, why it is important to get vaccinated and even after that, until everyone is, in fact, vaccinated, to wear this mask. .

The Biden administration has set itself a goal of administering 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days of the president’s tenure. As of Monday, more than 92 million doses have been administered, according to CDC data.

Biden’s remarks about Trump’s potential involvement in outreach efforts came days after Dr.Anthony Fauci publicly called on the former president to urge his supporters to get vaccinated. A recent PBS NewsHour / NPR / Marist poll found that 41% of Republicans had no plans to get the vaccine.

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“If he would go out and say, ‘Go get the shot. This is really important for your health, the health of your family and the health of the country, “it seems absolutely inevitable that the vast majority of people who are close to him would. Listen to him,” Fauci said during a appearance on “Fox News Sunday”.

Trump was vaccinated in January before stepping down. Although Trump did not appear alongside other former presidents during a recent public service campaign on the vaccination campaign, he urged the public to get the vaccine during his speech at CPAC last month.

“Everyone, go get the shot,” Trump said at the event.