NEW YORK - Former President Donald Trump revealed that he received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing boos from a crowd in Dallas.
Trump made a disclosure Sunday night during the final stop of The History Tour, a live interview he has been doing with former Fox News host Bill O Reilly.
O Reilly, the president and I are vaxxed, said at the American Airlines Center, drawing some jeers from the audience, according to a video shared online by O Reilly's No Spin News. He asked the former president. Yes, Trump responded. O Reilly said I got it, too, eliciting more hectoring.
Trump spoke to the crowd, waving off their reaction with his hand.
While Trump has criticized vaccine mandates, he has taken credit for the vaccines developed on his watch. At the same time, he has refused to urge his supporters to take them, even though Republicans are less likely than Democrats to be protected.
Trump chose to receive his in private acknowledgment of the unpopularity of the vaccine with large swaths of his base, while other world leaders, including former Vice President Mike Pence, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, received their doses publicly to promote the lifesaving medicine. He has blamed the Biden administration for high levels of vaccine skepticism, but he has repeatedly undermined public health recommendations while in office, citing the use of unproven treatments and playing down the threat the virus posed as he tried to prioritize economic recovery and secure a second term.
Trump had told the Wall Street Journal in September that he probably wouldn't get a booster shot.
I feel like I'm in good shape from that standpoint," he told the paper. The U.S. has been urging all eligible Americans to get booster shots as soon as possible as the country faces a surge in the new highly contagious omicron variant. Both Moderna and Pfizer have said booster shots of their COVID- 19 vaccines appear to offer protection against the new strain, which preliminary evidence suggests can better evade vaccines than previous versions.
In October 2020, Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19, weeks before the presidential election, and received experimental monoclonal antibodies treatment. In a book released this month, Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff, revealed that Trump was far sicker than the White House disclosed at the time.
Before the booing, Trump told the audience that they should take credit for the success of the vaccines he developed while he was in office.
We did something that was historic. We saved tens of millions of lives in the world. We together, all of us -- not me, we -- got a vaccine done, three vaccines done, and tremendous therapeutics Trump said. This was going to ravage the country far beyond what it is right now. Don't let them take it away. He said that you're playing right into their hands when you're like, Oh the vaccine. If you don't want to take it, you shouldn't be forced to take it. He said there was no mandates that he said, drawing cheers. We saved tens of millions of lives by taking credit. Don't let them take that away from you. Trump aides did not respond to a request for comment Monday.