WATCH: Trump’s Surgeon General Says Colin Powell Died Because We Didn’t do Enough to Prevent COVID Spread

Early on Monday morning, it was announced that Colin Powell had died from complications of COVID-19. While the legendary general was vaccinated, he was 84 years old and had suffered from multiple myeloma.

Conservative media was quick to hop on the fact that Powell died despite being vaccinated. A tweet from Fox News’ John Roberts was particularly egregious.

The reality is that the vaccine was never meant to completely prevent death from COVID, especially with the health problems Powell had. During a Monday night interview on CNN, Jerome Adams said that the country had failed the general by not preventing spread.

Adams, who served as Donald Trump’s Surgeon General, first talked about what Powell meant to him. “Colin Powell, he paved the way for all Black people — Democrats, Republicans, independents — to be able to be in these high-profile government positions like Secretary of State, like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, like Surgeon General. And I think about that every single time someone asks me, ‘Why did you stay?’ I think about Colin Powell.”

Former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams remembers his mentor, Colin Powell.

He says Powell paved the way for “all Black people… to be able to be in these high profile government positions.” pic.twitter.com/2BjTgeE8Ek

— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) October 19, 2021

See Also

Donald Trump (And Trumpism) Broke Milo Yiannopoulos

When Cuomo asked about Roberts’ tweet, Adams responded:

“We know a disproportionate number of them have been people with co-morbidities, as General Powell had. So he was someone primed for a breakthrough infection. He’s someone who did what he was supposed to do. He got vaccinated, but it proves we can’t just say we’re only going to protect the vulnerable, we’re only going to worry about those people getting vaccinated and everyone else doesn’t matter. We all matter. And the fact is that General Powell died because we didn’t take the proper measures to lower spread in this country. We didn’t do everything that we could.”