Peter Doocy Grills Psaki on Biden’s Past Skepticism of COVID Vaccine Developed Under Trump
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the data has not shown that President Joe Biden created vaccine hesitancy by raising questions about its development while he was a candidate. During a White House press…
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the data has not shown that President Joe Biden created vaccine hesitancy by raising questions about its development while he was a candidate.
During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Psaki was asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy, “As the president tries to reach unvaccinated Americans, has there been any thought given, looking back, to the possibility that he may have created some vaccine hesitancy when last year around this time the previous administration was rushing to get a vaccine authorized?”
He noted that then-candidate Biden said, “I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump, and at this moment, the American people can’t either.”
“I think it’s safe to say he still doesn’t trust Donald Trump, so that hasn’t changed,” Psaki responded. “But he does trust scientists. He does trust data experts. And he does trust the people leading the CDC, the FDA, which is the gold standard of approval for vaccines.”
She also noted that Biden has credited experts and scientists in the Trump administration for “moving the vaccines forward.”
Still, Doocy asked, “At the time, when Donald Trump is out there saying, ‘We’re going to have a vaccine in the next couple weeks, next couple months’ and Joe Biden is out on the campaign trail saying, ‘Don’t trust Donald Trump,’ did that create any kind of vaccine hesitancy?”
“Not that we’ve seen in the data. I would note that at the time, just for context, the former president was also suggesting people inject versions of poison into their veins to cure Covid. So, I think that’s a relevant point,” Psaki said.