President Donald Trump celebrated the approval of the vaccines developed to fight the coronavirus pandemic in December — and his team announced over the weekend that Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were both given the vaccine before leaving office in late January.
The distribution of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines throughout the U.S. as part of Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” has contributed a 77 percent drop in COVID-19 cases.
“They say it’s somewhat of a miracle and I think that’s true,” Trump said of the vaccine in December.
On Sunday, Trump urged attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2021 to get their shots as soon as they were eligible.
“Everybody, go get your shot,” he told the crowd.
He also mocked President Joe Biden for downplaying the former administration’s role in the development of the vaccine.
“Joe Biden is only implementing the plan that we put in place, and if we had an honest media — which we don’t — they would say it loud and clear.”
The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed,” his effort to produce and distribute safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19, has been compared to the United States’ successful “Manhattan Project” — the development of the atomic bomb that helped to force Japan’s surrender in World War Two.
Since then, nearly 100 million doses have been produced and distributed.
“Every American who wants the vaccine will be able to get the vaccine and we think by spring we’re going to be in a position nobody would have believed possible just a few months ago,” Trump predicted in December.
Trump and his aides have tried to tamp down skepticism among some Americans about the vaccines and help boost the former Republican president’s legacy.
Biden has since promised to distribute “100 million shots in the first 100 days” of his administration — which is roughly on pace with the Trump administration.
READ MORE: Third COVID-19 vaccine approved by FDA
The Associated Press contributed to this article