“Were you aware at the time that he got the vaccine?” Burnett asked.

“No, Erin, I was not. I was not aware that he was vaccinated,” Fauci responded.

Burnett asked if Trump missed a big opportunity to make a difference and convince his base the vaccines are safe.

“Certainly there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that former President Trump is very, very popular among his constituencies,” Fauci said. “That would’ve been an extraordinarily good opportunity to get a signal to the people who would clearly have listened to him the way they listened to him in many other ways. He has a great deal of influence.”

He lamented it was a “lost opportunity” to convince hesitant Americans.