Vanity Fair on the political fight over taking credit for the Covid vaccines

“Trump's supporters want him to get credit for the vaccine which many of them refuse to get as a way of owning the libs.  Got that?” the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser tweeted Wednesday night.  Fox News, which can’t seem to get its COVID vaccine story straight, “almost immediately aired a complaint that Biden didn't extend a thank-you to Trump for accelerating the vaccine timeline,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.  Both Stelter and Glasser point to hypocrisy on the part of Trump supporters, particularly those on conservative media outlets like Fox, who at once argue the former administration deserves more credit for the U.S. vaccination effort and fuel skepticism about getting the jab.  Trump on Thursday called vaccine hesitancy “a big situation” but didn’t commit to doing anything about, even as he acknowledged requests for him to make a public service announcement promoting the vaccine to his followers, as Biden’s top health official urged this week.  As Politico reported, all living former presidents and first ladies appeared in a vaccine PSA last month—with the exception of the Trumps.  In January, the former president opted not to get the shot publicly, as other officials did, and his endorsements of the vaccine have largely been made in passing.

~ Vanity Fair, "Trump's Latest Delusion: 'I'm the Father of the Vaccine'," April 29, 2021