Editor’s Note (May 2, 2022, 11:16 a.m. ET): NBC News has determined that several passages in an earlier version of this article about Trump’s earlier resistance to vaccines and his own experience with Covid were not properly attributed to their original source and did not meet our standards for original material. The passages have been removed from the article.
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump praised the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines in a new interview just days after being booed by an audience for revealing he received a Covid booster shot.
"The vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of mankind," Trump told conservative commentator Candace Owens in an interview on Wednesday. While Trump has expressed opposition to vaccine mandates, he has long taken credit for the vaccines developed on his watch.
"I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines all are very, very good," he said in the interview, referring to the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots.
Trump also said people who are vaccinated aren't the ones becoming seriously ill.
"The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't do the vaccine, but it's still their choice," he said. "And if you take the vaccine you're protected, the results of the vaccine are good."
On Sunday, Trump drew boos from an audience in Dallas after revealing to former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly that he got a Covid booster shot.
“Both the president and I are vaxxed,” O’Reilly said during the final stop of "The History Tour," a live interview show he's been doing with the former president.
The comment drew some jeers from the audience, according to a video clip of the show that O’Reilly’s “No Spin News” shared online.
“Did you get the booster?” O'Reilly asked the former president.
“Yes,” Trump responded.
“I got it, too,” O'Reilly said, eliciting more hectoring.
“Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!” the former president then told the crowd, waving off their reaction with his hand.
Trump chose to receive his in private — an acknowledgement of the unpopularity of the vaccine with large swaths of his base.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki shared on Twitter the Owens interview clip of Trump commenting on vaccines and said: "Just going to echo former President Trump here on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. Merry Christmas eve eve. go get boosted."
President Joe Biden in his own speech on Covid on Tuesday praised Trump for getting his booster.
"It may be one of the few things he and I agree on," said Biden. "People with booster shots are highly protected."
