Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is willing to listen to leading health officials about the efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine, but not President Donald Trump.
The host of CNN’s “State of the Union” Dana Bash, noted Trump has promised a vaccine will be available by the end of the year or possibly sooner. Bash asked Harris if she would trust this vaccine.
“No, I would not trust his word. I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump,” Harris said.
She argued since the onset of the outbreak, the nation has learned there is “very little that we can trust that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth.”
Watch her comments below:
Kamala Harris said that President Donald Trump's word alone on any potential coronavirus vaccine is not enough: "I would not trust his word. I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists but not Donald Trump" #CNNSOTU https://t.co/MM3NELp1lt pic.twitter.com/H4nF2Bn4T4
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) September 6, 2020
Harris explained since the very beginning of the outbreak, the president has called it a “hoax,” silenced “public health experts,” “minimized the seriousness” of the situation, and “created false expectations” for Americans and American families.
She claimed his priority was to do anything that was considered “politically expedient.”
Bash questioned Harris about whether public health officials will have the final say on the efficacy of a vaccine.
“If past is prologue that they will not. They’ll be muzzled; they’ll be suppressed, they will be sidelined because he’s looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days, and he’s grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he has been a leader on this issue when he’s not,” Harris said.
Bash went on to ask Harris if a vaccine is approved and distributed before the election would she get it.
“Well, I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump, and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about,” Harris said.
She added, “I will not take his word for it. He wants us to inject bleach. No, I will not take his word.”
Her comments come just days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged governors to expedite applications for vaccine distribution sites to make them operational by Nov. 1, as IJR previously reported.
