(Adds quote from Psaki, context of Trump's comments)

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The White House is grateful that former U.S. President Donald Trump received and promoted getting the COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday.

The Republican former president recently said in an interview that he received a booster shot, and called the COVID-19 vaccines "one of the greatest achievements of mankind."

"The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine," Trump said in an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens. "If you take the vaccine, you're protected."

"We're grateful that the former president got the booster, and we're also grateful that he made clear in a recent interview that they work and they're safe," Psaki told reporters in a briefing on Thursday.

Just 62% of Americans https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access are fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among rich nations, thanks in part to a Republican-led pushback against Democratic President Joe Biden's year-long vaccination campaign. (Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter, Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis)