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- Donald Trump said that 100 million people would have died from COVID-19 if it wasn't for him.
- The former president missed his own vaccine rollout targets.
- Upon taking office, Biden called Trump's vaccine rollout a "dismal failure."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Donald Trump has said that 100 million people would have died from COVID-19 if it wasn't for his vaccine rollout operation.
Former President Trump, under whom 400,000 people died from COVID-19, oversaw the launch of Operation Warp-Speed.
The first vaccine was delivered in the USA on December 14, 2020, to an intensive care nurse. To celebrate the jab, Donald Trump – who, at that point, was not barred from social media platforms – Tweeted "First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!"
Trump appeared on Dan Bongino's Fox News show on the evening of Saturday, August 7th, and said 'I think if we didn't come up during the Trump administration with the vaccine, you could have 100 million people dead just like you had in 1917."
16.5 million vaccines were delivered under President Trump by January 20th, an average of 900,000 per day – a wide miss of Trump's target of 20 million doses being delivered by the end of 2020.
Upon taking office, Biden called these figures "a dismal failure."
Under Biden, 333.5 million doses of vaccines have been delivered, but anti-vaxx rhetoric now grips Republican states that are being swept up by the new Delta variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, and adviser to President Joe Biden and the longtime director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said this week that new daily cases of COVID-19 could reach 200,000 in the coming weeks.
Trump appeared on Bongino's news show to discuss the opening of schools.
The former president said that further delays to children's education in the name of the pandemic would leave a "scar" on those affected.