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 In a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll released last week, about half of
U.S. men who identified themselves as Republicans said they had no
plans to get the vaccine.
Asked whether Trump should speak to his supporters directly, given
those poll numbers, Fauci said on the "Fox News Sunday" program: "I
think it would make all the difference in the world." Trump, Fauci
said, "is a such a strongly popular person ... it would be very
helpful for the effort for that to happen."
Trump told attendees at a conservative conference last month to get
vaccinated - saying, "everybody, go get your shot" - the first time
he had encouraged people to do so.
Fauci said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program: "How such a large
proportion of a certain group of people would not want to get
vaccinated merely because of political considerations ... it makes
absolutely no sense," Fauci said.
The other living former U.S. presidents - Barack Obama, George W.
Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter - are set to appear in two
public service announcements for the coronavirus vaccine alongside
their wives, without Trump.
President Joe Biden and other political leaders received their shots
publicly to encourage Americans to get vaccinated. Trump was
vaccinated privately in the White House in January, the New York
Times has reported.
Getting the vaccine is "no brainer," Fauci told "Meet the Press," as
he listed some of the diseases that vaccines had wiped out such as
small pox. "What is the problem here? This is a vaccine that is
going to be lifesaving for millions of people," Fauci said.
Fauci is the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases and an adviser to Biden.
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 Trump early in the pandemic
appeared at coronavirus briefings with Fauci but
later turned on him. Trump in October, weeks
after being hospitalized for three days for
COVID-19 treatment, criticized Fauci, saying, "Fauci
is a disaster. ... People are tired of hearing
Fauci and all these idiots." As
president, Trump minimized the need for coronavirus restrictions
including wearing masks and predicted the pathogen would disappear
"like a miracle."
Fauci on Sunday underscored his call for officials around the United
States not to lift restrictions prematurely and risk a spike in
COVID-19 cases. Some states such as Texas have lifted mask-wearing
and other restrictions.
An uptick in cases can be avoided if Americans continue to get
vaccinated "without all of a sudden pulling back on public health
measures," Fauci told CNN's "State of the Union" program.
"We will gradually be able to pull them (restrictions) back. And if
things go as we planned, just as the president said, by the time we
get into the early summer, the Fourth of July weekend, we really
will have a considerable degree of normality. But we don't want to
let that escape from our grasp by being too precipitous in pulling
back," Fauci added.
(Reporting by Heather Timmons; Additional reporting by David Morgan,
David Shepardson and Raphael Satter; Editing by Will Dunham)
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