President Trump got his COVID booster shot Friday night while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., America’s most famous anti-vaxxer and the HHS Secretary, restricts Americans’ access to the vaccine he hates.
During a “routine annual checkup” at Walter Reed Medical Center—Trump’s second of 2025—Trump received a report of gushing awe from White House physician Dr. Sean Barbarella, who claimed the president had the heart of a man “14 years younger” than Trump’s actual age (which is 79). Trump also received two shots: an annual flu shot and the COVID-19 booster.
Trump is eligible for a COVID booster according to the more limited eligibility guidelines set by Kennedy’s CDC, which recommends the COVID vaccine to people ages 65 and older as well as younger people with underlying health conditions.
Kennedy, 71, has made no secret about how much he hates COVID vaccines. In 2021, Kennedy called it “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and has repeatedly made conspiratorial and false statements about the vaccine during his time as Health and Human Services Secretary.
Trump, whose “Operation Warp Speed” helped get COVID vaccines to Americans incredibly quickly during his first presidency, has not shared his health secretary’s skepticism toward vaccines. He’s said that Kennedy has a “different” view toward vaccines than himself and other medical experts. In September, he joked that he hoped he hadn’t caught COVID after Kennedy sneezed near him in the Oval Office.
The Daily Beast reached out to Secretary Kennedy, asking if Kennedy recommended Trump get a COVID booster.
The irony of Trump receiving a COVID booster at a time when Kennedy is working to limit Americans’ access to the vaccine was not lost on social media commenters.
On X, Dr. Neil Stone rhetorically asked, “Why do you think Trump got a Covid booster? And didn’t take ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine?” Stone was referring to two common “alternative” COVID treatments that have spread in anti-vax circles.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding posted, “Dear MAGA—guess who just got both the updated COVID vaccine and flu shots today? Your dear Leader Trump. Maybe you should get them too.”
News of Trump’s booster came hours before his “grim reaper,” White House budget director Russell Vought, gutted the CDC with layoffs, putting dozens of disease scientists out of a job.
“Trump got a Covid booster from his doctor and then fired a dozens of doctors and scientists who were working to keep the rest of us healthy and alive,” posted Pod Save America host Jon Favreau.
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