Politics

Trump, Melania were vaccinated for Covid at the White House in January

Key Points
  • Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump received coronavirus vaccinations in January at the White House, said a person who works for Trump.
  • Trump did not announce at the time that he and the first lady had been vaccinated.
  • It was unclear which vaccine the president and the first lady received. At that point, two vaccines had been authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania make their way to board Marine One before departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on January 20, 2021.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump received coronavirus vaccinations in January at the White House, a person who works for Trump told CNBC on Monday.

Trump, who left office on Jan. 20, did not announce at the time that he and the first lady had been vaccinated.

It's unclear which vaccine the president and the first lady received. At that point, two vaccines had been authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration.

"President Trump and the First Lady were vaccinated at the White House in January," said the person, who declined to share any additional details or context.

The New York Times first reported that the former president and first lady had been vaccinated while in office.

Trump, in a speech Sunday at the annual conservative confab CPAC, encouraged "everybody" to get vaccinated.

"We took care of a lot of people," Trump said in the rare post-presidential appearance. "We took care of [President] Joe Biden, because he got his shot, he got his vaccine. ... So everybody, go get your shot."

White Republicans are more likely than any other group in the U.S. to be unsure or resistant to being vaccinated for Covid, according to recent polling from Civiqs, Axios reported.

Republicans unite around Trump at CPAC
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Republicans unite around Trump at CPAC

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both received their two doses of a Covid vaccine in public, in order to encourage Americans to get vaccinated and persuade those who are skeptical about the shots.

In December, the White House said that then-President Trump would not be administered a Covid vaccine until his medical team recommended it.

Trump had contracted the the virus last October. He was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received an antibody cocktail from Regeneron. Trump credited that drug for quickly restoring his health, allowing him to leave the hospital three days later.

More than 76 million doses of the Covid vaccines have been administered since mid-December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 513,510 people in the U.S. have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University data.