Psaki scoffs at the idea that the White House would partner with Trump on vaccine messaging

During a White House press conference on Thursday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki shot down a theoretical team up with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to get more Americans vaccinated.

"With the former president defending vaccines, on Tuesday, President Biden mentioned that's one of the only things that he actually agrees with Trump on, would the White House consider a partnership with the former president to get some of those folks that are vaccine-hesitant to actually get the job?" asked a reporter.

"I don't know that we think it requires a partnership," responded Psaki. "I think we believe that, you know, the former president being out there and stating what is factually accurate about the efficacy of vaccines, of getting boosted, which he recently did, of course, is a good thing. Right?"

"And it's a good thing to have a range of voices out there, Democrats, Republicans, independents, celebrities, non-celebrities, whomever people will be listening to out in the country," Psaki continued.

"We continue to believe that the most effective voices are local voices, local people, that's who everybody listens to, people in their community, your neighbor, your friend, your cousin, your pediatrician, but certainly we would applaud and have the former president's comments," she added.

Another reporter asked a similar question, inquiring if there has been a "renewed contact" between the White House and Trump following his booster shot and comments supporting the vaccine.

"You guys have been sharing former President Trump's message recently on boosters. And I'm wondering, given the former president's apparent change in tune on this issue over the last week, has there been any renewed contact between President Biden and the former president or your teams?" the reporter asked.

"No, but we are grateful that the former president got the booster," said Psaki. We're also grateful that he made clear in a recent interview, that they're effective and they're safe. And that's an important message for anyone to hear.

"This is not a partisan issue. This is about saving lives, communicating accurate information, pushing back against inaccurate information, and in this particular case, the former president did that," she added.

In an interview with Bill O'Reilly this week, Trump revealed that he has received his booster shot, and urged those that are not vaccinated to consider getting the shot.

"Take credit for it; take credit for it. It was a great, what we've done it's historic," said Trump.

"Don't let them take it away. Don't take it away from ourselves. You're 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," he continued.

"But take credit, because we saved tens of millions of lives; take credit. Don't let them take it away from you. Do you agree with that? Right?" Trump added.