What Dr. Fauci Hopes Donald Trump Will Do

Dr. Fauci and former President Donald Trump didn't exactly become the best of friends during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As Trump scorned masks and urged governors to "open up" their states, per CNBC, Dr. Fauci told Americans to mask up and maintain social distancing. According to Politico, at one point, Trump even had the hashtag #FireFauci trending on Twitter after re-tweeting a Republican's own criticism of the doctor.

But while there may be no love lost between the two men, Fauci's still fighting the good fight when it comes to getting Trump to use his influence to encourage people to get vaccinated. He may no longer be president, but Trump still has a ton of support from his core base of followers.  

Though he is perma-banned from Twitter and many of his other favorite social media platforms, former President Donald Trump still has a huge megaphone at his disposal if he wants to communicate with his followers.

About half of Republican men in the United States said they had no plans to get the vaccine, according to a recent PBS poll, and Dr. Fauci thinks a word from Trump could change that. According to Reuters, on March 14, 2021, Fauci was asked on Fox News Sunday if Trump should speak to his supporters directly about getting a vaccine. "I think it would make all the difference in the world," Fauci said. "[Trump] is a such a strongly popular person ... it would be very helpful for the effort for that to happen."

Leading medical experts believe that life cannot return to anything like normal until we've reached herd immunity — meaning the majority of the U.S. population will have to be vaccinated, as per CNBC. Luckily, President Joe Biden recently announced, according to CNN, that vaccines will be available for all American adults as early as May 2021. 

For what it's worth, Trump did tell his supporters, "Everybody, go get your shot," at the CPAC in February 2021 (he and Melania got vaccinated before they left the White House).