President Donald Trump praised his administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on Tuesday, touting Operation Warp Speed– the government program that facilitated the creation and rollout of a Covid vaccine in a historically short timeframe.

Trump, speaking at length to the press during a cabinet meeting, was midway through extolling his first-term economic record when he broached the topic of the pandemic.

“I had the greatest economy in the history of our country, my first four years despite covid, which was a very unfortunate situation for the whole world,” said the president. “We did a great job with it, never got the credit for the job we did.”

He continued, lauding the government operation behind the accelerated formulation, production, and distribution of vaccines to millions of Americans.

“Operation Warp Speed, people say, is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military because it was almost a military procedure,” said Trump. “But everybody, including [Vladimir] Putin, said that Operation Warp Speed, what you did with that, nobody can believe it and we did a great job.”

The president has spoken less frequently about his historic program in recent years, despite the praise it has garnered from many of his critics. Sections of his base have become increasingly against vaccines, especially Covid-19 shots, with coalitions like the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement pushing strongly for the elimination of vaccine mandates.

Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a well-documented vaccine skeptic who’s made moves to restrict vaccines. Kennedy’s department has already canceled almost half a billion dollars in federal contracts for the development of mRNA vaccines earlier this month and revoked a $600 million deal with Moderna in May, funding that was earmarked for the development of a potential bird flu vaccine.

Trump was asked about these cuts in relation to his previous support for vaccines under Operation Warp Speed earlier this month.

“With Operation Warp Speed was, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, considered one of the most incredible things ever done in this country. The efficiency, the way it was done, the distribution, everything about it has been amazing,” he said. “But, you know, that was now a long time ago, and we’re on to other things.”

Watch above via Fox News.

The post Trump Brags About Making the Covid-19 Vaccine: ‘One of the Greatest Achievements Ever’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/XzyfjB8