Donald Trump
Donald TrumpShealah Craighead/White House official

Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday recommended that all citizens take the coronavirus vaccine.

“It’s a great vaccine. It’s a safe vaccine. And it’s something that works,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News.

“I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly,” he added.

The comments follow polls which showed that large numbers of Republicans and Trump supporters are resistant to getting the vaccination.

Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said he hopes Trump will push his supporters to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I think it would make all the difference in the world,” said Fauci, who added that Trump “is a such a strongly popular person ... it would be very helpful for the effort for that to happen.”

Earlier this month it was reported that Trump and former first lady Melania Trump quietly received the COVID-19 vaccine at the White House in January, before Trump left office.

Trump also said in Tuesday’s interview that he would decide whether to make another run for the White House after congressional elections in November 2022.

“I think we have a very, very good chance of taking back the House. You have a good chance to take back the Senate and frankly, we’ll make our decision after that,” he said, adding that his supporters appear ready to back him again if he ran.

“Based on every poll, they want me to run again, but we’re going to take a look and we’ll see,” Trump said.