Trump Testing Czar Appeals to Former President to Encourage Vaccines: His ‘Speaking Out Would Be Very Important’

Former Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir, the covid testing czar under Donald Trump’s administration, said Monday it’s very important that the former president be vocal encouraging his supporters to get vaccinated.

CNN’s Jake Tapper brought up the serious issue of vaccine hesitancy and outright opposition to getting one among Republicans.

He asked Giroir if Trump should be “actively encouraging his followers to get the vaccines that were developed under his own administration.”

“Of course the answer is yes,” Giroir said.

“I think it’s very important for former President Trump, as well as the vice president, to actively encourage all the followers to get the vaccine,” he continued. “This is something that the Trump administration developed under its time, and I think all of the above, including the former president speaking out, would be very important.”

Tapper also brought up the fact that Trump got vaccinated in secret in January and did not say anything publicly — and we only found out he got vaccinated from reports a few weeks ago.

Giroir said he didn’t know about that at the time and only found out from reports.

“I get a little hesitant to make judgments about people’s private medical decisions, about whether there could have been, you know, potential issues that he did not want to make it public,” he said, “but I think the point now is… we all have to get together and urge every American — the people who follow the former president are very committed to President Trump, and I think his leadership still matters a great deal.”

Giroir also noted there needs to be improvements on the outreach to “minority underserved communities that have been so disproportionately affected.”

(h/t Mediaite)