Trump recommends Americans get vaccinated for COVID-19

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that he recommends Americans get vaccinated for COVID-19, reassuring people that the inoculations are safe.

What are the details?

During a primetime interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump, "Mr. President, I know that you received the vaccine, Mrs. Trump also got the vaccine. Would you recommend to our audience that they get the vaccine then?"

"I would," Trump replied. "I would recommend it, 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, quite frankly."

"But, again," he continued. "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."

There are various coronavirus vaccines now available to Americans, some of which were created during the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed — the foundational program for development and rollout of the inoculations in the U.S.

The former president made the statement after Dr. Fauci told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he hoped Trump would encourage his supporters to get vaccinated, Politico noted.

The outlet reported that "skepticism of the Covid vaccine has mostly fallen along party lines," after "a recent CBS News poll found a third of Republicans say they do not plan to get the vaccine, and an NPR/Marist poll showed that almost half of Republican men will not get the vaccine."

While neither Trump nor former First Lady Melania Trump took the vaccines publicly nor have they acknowledged taking the shots, anonymous sources reported earlier this month that the pair got the jabs at the White House in January before leaving office, CBS News reported.

Last week, the Ad Council released a video of all other living former presidents calling on Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine when available.

The New York Times reported Monday that "Trump was not asked to participate, as the others were, because at the time it was filmed, during Mr. Biden's inauguration, he had not yet disclosed that he had been vaccinated."

A Trump adviser told the newspaper had not been approached "in any formal way to speak directly to his supporters."

Former Presidents and First Ladies 'It's Up To You' :60 | Ad Council and COVID Collaborativewww.youtube.com