Symone Sanders, a senior campaign adviser for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign, is revealing what it will take for Biden to get a coronavirus vaccine if it becomes available.
During her appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Sanders told Fox News’ Bret Baier that Biden’s priority is making sure Americans have access to the vaccine.
Baier asked, “Will Joe Biden get the vaccine if it’s available?”
However, instead of directly answering if he would, Sanders said, “First and foremost, at the top of mind for Vice President Biden is, ‘Are the American people getting what they need?'”
She added, “If a vaccine were to become available, again, it’s about what working families benefit, will they be able to receive the vaccine.”
Watch her comments below:
Baier pressed Sanders on whether the Biden campaign is suggesting if a vaccine does become available before the election it should not be trusted or it is “pure politics.”
Sanders stressed the campaign wants the vaccine to be safe and “equitably distributed.”
She argued it is difficult for Americans to trust President Donald Trump to be able to “effectively and equitably distribute” the vaccine when he has failed to provide personal protective equipment to frontline workers nationwide.
Sanders reiterated it is crucial for working Americans to have access to a vaccine.
She also questioned whether Black and Latino communities would be able to receive the vaccine as they are disproportionately affected by the outbreak.
Sanders continued on to criticize the Trump administration for its response to the pandemic.
“If we look at, just frankly, how this White House and how the administration has handled the mitigation or the lack thereof of COVID-19 has handled, you know, distributing personal protective equipment to folks across this country, there have been real issues,” Sanders said.
She added, “We would hope that if a vaccine is available that it is safe, but it’s a question of can the Trump administration distribute it equitably and what we’ve seen says we don’t know.”
Sanders’ comments come just days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called on governors to rush applications for vaccine distribution sites to have them operational by Nov. 1, as IJR previously reported.