Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as former President Donald Trump's surgeon general, is suggesting that his former boss waited until after President Joe Biden praised his involvement in the development of coronavirus vaccines to express public support for them.
"We know the president's love language is words of affirmation. We know Joe Biden is known for his cooperation," Adams in an interview with CNN's "AC360" Thursday, reports Business Insider. "So, to me, what was most shocking, what was most telling, wasn't that Donald Trump came out and supported vaccines — it was that it took Joe Biden 11 months to finally do what he has been known to do for 79 years, and that's to reach out across the aisle."
But once Biden "gave President Trump those words of affirmation, you heard President Trump come out and say 'Thank you, I appreciate that,'" said Adams. "And he applauded it. I hope we see more of that."
During his address to the nation on Tuesday, Biden said that "thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America was one of the first countries to get the vaccine."
Trump, meanwhile, endorsed the vaccines to conservative commentator Candace Owens in an interview for her show on The Daily Wire, which first aired on the pay-membership site Tuesday.
It was not clear when the interview was conducted, but The Daily Wire promoted the interview on Monday, the day before Biden's speech. Further, Owens promoted the interview, with a clip, on her Twitter page on Dec. 14.
During that interview, which was released publicly on Wednesday, Trump praised the vaccines, while maintaining he does not approve of mandates, a stance he has held for some time.
"The vaccine worked," Trump told Owens. "But some people aren't taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine. But it's still their choice, and if you take the vaccine, you're protected.
"Look the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get [COVID], it's a very minor form. People aren't dying when they take the vaccine."
CNN host John Berman, meanwhile, asked Adams if he was telling him Trump "didn't praise vaccines or boosters until Joe Biden decided to thank him for the vaccines? That's what he was waiting for?"
Adams responded that it was after the speech that "you saw Donald Trump change his tune. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying you can't deny that that is when he changed his tune and came out and supported vaccinations, and regardless, that's a good thing."
Meanwhile, Trump said two days before Biden's address that he supports the vaccines.
Some in a crowd of supporters on Sunday booed him when he said, during an appearance in Dallas with Bill O'Reilly, that he had gotten a booster shot, and that he supports vaccines.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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