Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris on Wednesday kicked off the first and only vice presidential debate by highlighting their divide over the coronavirus pandemic.
Surveys have shown a significant number of people would not be willing to take a coronavirus vaccine. Harris indicated she would be eager to get a vaccine if it were recommended by experts.
“If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely,” Harris said. “But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it.”
Photos: Daily Life, Disrupted
Pence accused Harris of sowing doubt over the vaccine.
“The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine, if the vaccine emerges during the Trump administration, I think is unconscionable,” Pence said.
Harris, like her running mate Joe Biden during the previous presidential debate, painted the Trump administration as not having a plan for the pandemic, which has infected over 7.5 million people in the U.S. and killed more than 211,000.
“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus infections is over 43,000 cases, according to government statistics compiled by USAFacts. That average for fatalities is about 680 deaths. While cases and deaths are below what they were during their previous peaks, they are still elevated.
(Courtesy of USAFacts)
(Courtesy of USAFacts)
Pence said that it is a “great disservice to the sacrifices the American people have made” to say efforts over the last eight months haven’t worked.
Pence, in response to a question from moderator Susan Page, also defended the event in the Rose Garden 11 days ago where social distancing was not observed and very few were seen in masks. President Donald Trump and the first lady tested positive for the coronavirus following the event.
“Many of the people who were at that event, Susan, actually were tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise,” Pence said.