Trump calls himself ‘father of the vaccine’ and claims he deserves credit for coronavirus shots

Former US president Donald Trump has claimed that he is “the father of the vaccine” for coronavirus, attacking his successor Joe Biden for taking credit for the much-improved US response to the crisis.

Speaking to Maria Bartiromo in a phone interview on Fox Business, Mr Trump was responding to Mr Biden’s address to Congress on Wednesday evening marking his first 100 days in the White House.

The president described he opening months of his tenure as one of “crisis and opportunity”, declaring that “America is rising anew” and detailing his plans to revive the economy following the coronavirus pandemic and tackle the climate emergency in a sweeping speech.

The Republican Party’s official rebuttal was already delivered last night by senator Tim Scott of South Carolina but Mr Trump wasted little time in calling in to his favourite network broadcaster to offer a revisionist history of his administration’s bungled response to the pandemic, which was characterised by dysfunction, disorganisation and Mr Trump himself publicly speculating that bleach injections could fight the virus.

The ex-president, now a private citizen in Florida, also said Mr Biden is “destroying our country” with his policy on immigration at the US-Mexico border.

More to follow…