In an interview with Candace Owens Donald Trump defended the vaccines as effective and safe. The Hill. Trump took credit for the rapid pace that the vaccines were developed and said all three were effective. Trump also claimed that the vaccines were safe and that "people weren't dying from them". In an interview with Bill O'Reilly Trump admitted that he had gotten a booster shot, despite having already contracted the virus. The vaccines are one of the rare things that Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree on and Trump has been praised by the Biden administration for his efforts to get people vaccinated.
My Comment:
I think this is a bad political move for President Trump. I understand why he is doing it, Trump considers the development of the vaccines to be a major accomplishment and one of the highlights of his Presidency.
In order to take the credit for the vaccines you also have to take blame when they have largely failed in ending the pandemic. Not only did the vaccines not stop the pandemic, they did not stop the emergence of the Delta variant, which spread globally. It also didn't do anything to stop the new Omicron variant, though again I have been saying since the variant emerged, Omicron is not a threat.
I do think that the vaccines were, on balance, a good thing. I think a lot of vulnerable people were indeed protected from death or severe illness. I took the first two doses myself and given the circumstances of when that happened it was probably the right choice. With the original and Alpha variants the threat was big enough that it was worth the risk.
With that being said there is a major risk with these vaccines, to the point where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was almost pulled and is no longer recommended if there is any other choice. That particular vaccine absolutely killed at least a few people due to blood clots. The other two vaccines seems safer but they have had side effects as well.
I don't think that the vaccines will be looked on as a major scientific miracle that President Trump wants it to be. It didn't end the pandemic and has had some major side effects. Trump is simply wrong on this issue, even if the vaccine might be useful in a case by case basis. I honestly don't fault Trump himself for taking the booster given his age and health but I also don't think the booster is right for me.
A bigger problem is that there are a lot of people that think the vaccines are at best literal poison and at worst some plot to kill everyone. I don't give those theories credence, the vaccines are not as effective and safe as they were sold but they aren't the development of some evil plot. Many of those people also voted for Donald Trump.
With opinions on the vaccines likely to turn and millions of his supporters totally against the Coronavirus vaccines, could it effect Donald Trump's 2024 reelection campaign? I think it's going to depend on how relevant the issue is in 2024. I think it would be extremely unlikely that the Coronavirus pandemic will still be going on by then. Indeed, I think it's essentially over as soon as Omicron wipes out Delta and the virus is no longer a threat.
The worst case scenario would be for the vaccines to have unknown long term side effects that haven't shown up yet. That seems extremely unlikely to me but if it happens Trump can't possibly win after taking credit for the vaccines, and I think at that point he wouldn't deserve it.
With that being said I think that this will be a dead issue by the time 2024 comes around. The pandemic is essentially over and I can't imagine we will still be arguing about vaccines beyond spring of 2022, let alone in 2024. Trump might have burned a few bridges with the most extreme anti-vax supporters, but the 2024 election will likely be decided by 2024 issues.
And that's assuming that Donald Trump will even run. I think he wants to but he is getting to be an old man. I don't think he would be willing to run if his health degrades to Joe Biden levels of dysfunction. But if his health is good I think he will run, and given the utter weakness of Joe Biden I think he would win.
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