Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said he found it “disturbing” that so many Trump supporters were refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Fauci discussed a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey published last week that found that vaccine hesitancy aligned with political affiliations.
Nearly 50% of Republican men surveyed said they had no plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas only 6% of Democratic men said they wouldn't get the vaccine.
Fauci said he hoped that former President Trump would encourage his supporters to get vaccinated.
"I hope he does because the numbers that you gave are so disturbing, how such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to make — would not want to get vaccinated merely because of political consideration," Fauci told "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd. "It makes absolutely no sense."
Several outlets have reported that both Trump and First Lady Melania received the vaccine before leaving office and while still in the White House.
In a recent statement from Trump, the former president took credit for the vaccine rollout.
"If I wasn't president, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!" Trump said.
The US death toll remains the highest in the world, surpassing 528,000.
"We've got to dissociate political persuasion from what's common sense, no-brainer public health things," Fauci said. "The history of vaccinology has rescued us from smallpox, from polio, from measles, from all of the other diseases. What is the problem here?”
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