Former President Donald Trump has issued a bizarre statement attempting to take credit for the swift rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.
In the statement, he insisted that Americans should remember that if it wasn't for him, it would've taken "five years" before they had access to the "beautiful" vaccine.
During his presidency, Trump denied the significance of COVID-19 and claimed it would "one day disappear" like "a miracle". The US has recorded over 29 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 530,000 deaths.
"I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) vaccine, that if I wasn't President, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for five years, at best, and probably won't be getting it at all," his latest statement says. "I hope everyone remembers!"
When incumbent President Joe Biden entered the White House, he said he wanted to see 100 million vaccinations within the first 100 days of his term. So far, nearly 94 million vaccines have been administered, with at least 2.1 million immunisations each day.
On Wednesday (local time), a senior advisor to Biden's coronavirus response team said one in four adults have already received their first dose of the vaccine.
Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter following the deadly riot at the US Capitol on January 6, has now resorted to emailing his statements.
The social media giant barred Trump due to "the risk of further incitement of violence" after the former President delivered an incendiary rant at a rally, urging his supporters to march on the Capitol in protest of his election loss.
