Donald Trump booed by supporters as he admits having COVID booster jab

US

Donald Trump was booed by some of his supporters as he admitted to having received a COVID-19 booster jab.

The former US president heckled by audience members in Dallas on Sunday when he admitted he had received a another dose.

It comes as US officials and scientists call on the population to get vaccinated amid a surge in cases due to the Omicron variant.

Mr Trump has rarely discussed whether he has had the vaccine and has largely refused to encourage others to get it – despite championing his administration’s efforts to develop them.

In a video shared by Bill O’Reilly’s “No spin news” Twitter account, Mr Trump can be heard discussing the vaccine with the former Fox News host.

Mr O’Reilly says: “Both the President and I are vaxxed.”

He then asks his guest: “Did you get the booster?” to which Mr Trump replies “Yes.”

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Members of the audience can immediately be heard jeering in response to the admission.

Mr Trump says: “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,” before indicating to Mr O’Reilly that it’s coming from a, “very tiny group over there.”

In a longer video later tweeted by Mr O’Reilly’s site, Mr Trump warns supporters that they are “playing right into their hands” by not taking credit for them.

“Look, we did something that was historic, we saved tens of millions of lives worldwide. We, together, all of us, not me,” Mr Trump says in the video.

He goes on to say that COVID-19 was going to “ravage the country far beyond what it is right now” without the vaccines.

He said: “Take credit for it. Take credit for it. It’s great. What we’ve done is historic. Don’t let them take it away. Don’t take it away from yourselves.

“You are playing right into their hands when you’re sort of like: “Oh the vaccine.”

“If you don’t want to take it, you shouldn’t be forced to take it. No mandates. But take credit, because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit. Don’t let them take that away from you.”

Mr Trump, who contracted the virus when he was president, received his first jab behind closed doors before leaving office.

However, the former president told the Wall Street Journal in September that he was unlikely to get the booster jab.

He added that he felt like he was “in good shape from that standpoint” and “probably won’t” get the booster.

“I’ll look at stuff later on,” he added.

“I’m not against it, but it’s probably not for me.”

This is not the first time Mr Trump has been met with this sort of reaction when speaking about vaccines.

During an event in Alabama in August, the same happened when he said: “I believe totally in your freedoms. I do. You’ve got to do what you have to do. But I recommend, take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.”

As he was booed he added,: “No, that’s OK. That’s all right. You got your freedoms but I happened to take the vaccine. If it doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know, OK?”