Fauci says he's 'dismayed' and 'stunned' that Trump was booed by his supporters over vaccination

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he was "dismayed" and "stunned" by the response of Trump supporters to the former president advocating for vaccination.

Fauci made the comments while being interviewed by Jon Karl of ABC News on "This Week" on Sunday.

"I was a bit dismayed when former President [Donald] Trump came out and made that statement and his followers booed him, which, I was stunned by that," Fauci told Karl.

They were referring to an incident in Texas where Trump told Bill O'Reilly during their tour that he had received the booster to the vaccine against the coronavirus. Many members of the audience booed him, and he responded by waving them away. He was also booed by some of his supporters in Alabama for similar comments in August.

"I mean, given the fact of how popular he is with that group, that they would boo him, which tells me how recalcitrant they are about being told what they should do," Fauci explained.

"And I think that his continuing to say that people should get vaccinated, and articulating that to them, in my mind is a good thing," he added "I hope he keeps it up."

"Yeah, let's hope he says it loudly and clear," responded Jon Karl.

Fauci also expressed frustration that the Biden administration had been unable to meet the demand for at-home tests for the virus.

"The situation where you have such a high demand, a conflation of events, Omicron stirring people to get appropriately concerned and wanting to get tested as well as the fact of the run on tests during the holiday season — we've obviously got to do better," said Fauci.

"I think things will improve greatly as we get into January," he concluded. "But that doesn't help us today and tomorrow."

Here's the video of Fauci's comments on "This Week":

With new omicron variant, cases 'likely will go much higher': Dr. Fauci | ABC Newswww.youtube.com