Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton And Carter Promote COVID-19 Vaccine In New Ad

Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter appeared together in a new ad encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them. 

“This vaccine means hope,” Obama says in the video. “It will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.”

The ad then highlights what the former presidents miss about their lives prior to the pandemic. 

“I want to go back to work, and I want to be able to move around,” Clinton says. 

Obama notes his desire to visit with Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson: “To hug her and see her on her birthday.” 

“What I’m really looking forward to is going to opening day in Texas Rangers stadium with a full stadium,” says Bush. 

The video later shows clips of each president getting vaccinated, along with former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton. 

Carter can be heard in the video saying, “I’m getting vaccinated because we want this pandemic to end as soon as possible.”

The video was made by the nonprofit Ad Council in partnership with the COVID collaborative, an assembly of public health experts and professionals in the education and economic fields.

Noticeably absent from the video is former President Donald Trump, and former First Lady Melania Trump. Several news outlets reported earlier this month that both Donald and Melania Trump quietly received the vaccine in January.

When asked about the Trumps’ absence, a spokesperson for the Ad Council told Reuters that one of the ads was filmed on Jan. 20, when Joe Biden was inaugurated, an event the Trumps skipped. 

The spokesperson also noted that the organization was pleased that Trump had recently urged Americans to get vaccinated, Reuters reported. He encouraged people to get their “shot” during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Feb. 28.

In another video published by Ad Council on Thursday, Bush, Obama and Clinton are seen together urging viewers to get vaccinated. The video appears to have been filmed during the same time frame as another previously released video that showed the presidents calling for unity in the U.S. That video aired on Inauguration Day. 

Biden, who publicized his vaccination in December to help instill confidence about the vaccine, announced earlier this month that the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May. 

Vice President Kamala Harris also publicized her vaccination in December. 

“I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine,” she told reporters after being inoculated. “It is relatively painless, it happens really quickly, it is safe.” 

She later added, “It’s literally about saving lives… I trust the scientists.”

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