Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump received the Covid-19 vaccine at the White House in January, but that wasn’t revealed until early in March for reasons unknown. After ignoring the gravity of the coronavirus for nearly a year, Trump finally urged his supporters to get vaccinated during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in late February. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden took their vaccines publicly to encourage Americans to take theirs, too.
To further encourage Americans to get vaccinated, new ads were released featuring former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama, being vaccinated, NBC News reports. One living former president and former first lady are noticeably absent in the ad: Donald and Melania Trump.
“This vaccine means hope,” Obama says in one of the ads. “It will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.”
“In order to get rid of this pandemic, it’s important for our fellow citizens to get vaccinated,” added George W. Bush. “So roll up your sleeve and do your part.”
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Here is one of the ads:
JUST POSTED: Former presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Carter join ad campaign to win over vaccine skeptics.
“This vaccine means hope,” Obama says in one of the new ads going up today, part of @AdCouncil’s national effort. pic.twitter.com/ffmuOsVjSE
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 11, 2021
The effort to feature the former presidents began in December when Donald Trump was still in office, said Ben Dorf, a vice president at the Ad Council, the nonprofit communications industry group responsible for public health messages including “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk,” according to the Washington Post. According to the outlet, some of the ads were also filmed at January’s presidential inauguration for Joe Biden, which Trump declined to attend.
On Wednesday, Trump released a statement to predictably try to take credit for the vaccine after President Biden received praise for his administration’s distribution efforts and for the COVID-19 stimulus bill that every single Republican voted against.
Featured image via White House/Flickr
