Psaki says White House would 'welcome' a COVID PSA from Trump as the Indian Delta variant ravages unvaccinated areas
Press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the White House would 'welcome' a PSA from former President Donald Trump as the Indian Delta variant of COVID-19 ravages unvaccinated areas within the United States.
She didn't enthusiastically endorse the idea, but was asked at the press briefing if President Joe Biden would consider calling Trump and enlisting his help in getting more Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The press secretary reiterated that studies show that the 'most trusted voices are local officials - doctors, medical experts, civic leaders, clergy from time to time.'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Monday's press briefing that the White House would 'welcome' a COVID-19 vaccine PSA featuring former President Donald Trump when asked if President Joe Biden would call Trump and ask
Psaki also said, 'We don't believe that requires an embroidered invitation to be a part of,' when asked if President Joe Biden would reach out to former President Donald Trump and have him shoot a pro-COVID-19 vaccine PSA
'And that is where we've really invested our funding and our resources,' she continued.
She also noted that other ex-presidents have gotten involved.
'We've seen almost every former president play a role in putting out a PSA, making sure people understood in the country that the vaccine is safe and effective,' Psaki said.
In March, former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama along with their spouses participated in a vaccination PSA.
Trump was the only living president not to participate.
'We don't believe that requires an embroidered invitation to be a part of,' Psaki said of the effort.
'But certainly any role of anyone who has a platform where they can provide information to the public that the vaccine is safe, it is effective, we don't see this as a political issue, we certainly welcome that engagement,' she added.
On Sunday, Trump released a statement mocking Biden for not being able to Americans vaccinated faster.
'Joe Biden kept talking about how good of a job he's doing on the distribution of the Vaccine that was developed by Operation Warp Speed or, quite simply, the Trump Administration. He's not doing well at all,' the statement read.
'He's way behind schedule, and people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don't trust his Administration, they don't trust the Election results, and they certainly don't trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the Truth,' Trump continued.
Trump continues to falsely claim the election was stolen from him.
The Biden administration fell short of the goal to have 70 per cent of Americans with at least one shot in their arms by July 4.
Some prominent conservatives haven't made Biden's job easier, by suggesting the government is playing 'big brother' after the White House announced plans to go door-to-door in some communities to pass out vaccine info.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month in Dallas, Texas, the crowd cheered and applauded when a speaker noted that the government was falling short of its vaccination goal.
And polling on the issue shows how politics has bled in - with just 6 per cent of Democrats saying they're unlikely to get vaccinated, compared to 47 per cent of Republicans who said the same thing, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll from early July.
While Trump was an anti-masker during his time in office, he's consistently touted his administration's vaccine effort, Operation Warp Speed.
At the same time, he and former first lady Melania Trump got their COVID-19 vaccine doses in private, instead of on-camera like the Bidens and Vice President Kamala Harris.