Former President Donald Trump is again urging people to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In an interview Tuesday night with Fox News, Trump acknowledged that people are free to decide for themselves and that many of those refusing to be vaccinated voted for him.
But the former president assured people that vaccination against COVID-19 is safe and that it works.
“I would recommend it,” Trump told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo. “And I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also.
"But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”
Trump also promoted vaccination last month during a conservative conference, telling those attending, “Everybody, go get your shot.”
In recent days, there have been calls for Trump to speak out more to his supporters about the need to be vaccinated. Among those to comment were Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus testing czar in the Trump administration, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading public face of scientists on the pandemic.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey last week that found that 49% of Republican men, 47% of Trump supporters and 41% of Republicans overall said they would not get a vaccine if one is made available to them.
