Here’s what the president said in public remarks, interviews and tweets from Jan. 22 through March, often likening the novel coronavirus to the flu as a way of downplaying the danger.
Trump’s Deceptive Comparison of the Coronavirus to the Flu
Issues: seasonal flu
Trump’s Flu Shot Reticence
President Donald Trump cast doubt on the value of influenza vaccines, saying he only got a flu shot because he was required to as president. “I don’t know if I should have. Who knows?” But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says each year the vaccine saves thousands of lives and prevents tens of thousands of hospitalizations.