Former President Donald Trump said he confessed to having received the COVID-19 vaccine booster because he "must tell the truth."
The former president explained his reasoning in a handwritten letter Monday to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who had reached out to a spokesperson to ask why Trump "switched his message on the vaccine/booster."
"Maggie -- Must tell the truth," Trump wrote, "and very proud to have produced the 3 vaccines so quickly – Millions of lives saved worldwide. Best Wishes Donald."
While speaking with journalist Bill O’Reilly during an appearance Sunday in Dallas, Trump was asked whether he had received the booster shot.
"Yes," Trump answered while seated on stage, O’Reilly's No Spin News tweeted Monday.
When a few spectators booed, Trump grinned and waved his hand while saying, "Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t …
"There's a very tiny group over there," he added while pointing to his left.
The former president reminded the crowd that his administration worked to get a COVID-19 vaccine developed in less than a year as part of Operation Warp Speed.
"Look, we did something that was historic; we saved tens of millions of lives worldwide when we, together, all of us, we got a vaccine done," Trump said, Newsweek reported. "This was going to ravage the country far beyond what it is right now, take credit for it ... it's great, what we've done is historic. Don't let them take it away."
Trump was cheered loudly after he said he opposed vaccine mandates.
"If you don't want to take it, you shouldn't be forced to take it," he told the crowd, Newsweek reported.
In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Trump criticized President Joe Biden's work in fighting COVID-19.
"Biden was going to do a wonderful job on COVID, right? … He's done a horrible job," Trump told Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures." "Look at what's gone on. Today we set a record on cases, a record," he said in an apparent reference to New York state’s record spike in positive cases of the virus.
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