The Democratic party's vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Sunday (6) said that she would not trust US President Donald Trump on a COVID-19 vaccine unless there is a credible source of information that talks about its efficacy and reliability.
Indian-American Harris, 55, is a Senator from California. She is the first ever black, African American and a person of Indian descent to be nominated as a vice presidential nominee by a major political party in the United States.
The US presidential election is scheduled for November 3, wherein Democratic party’s presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden along with Harris are challenging Trump and vice president Mike Pence from the Republican Party. Coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 191,000 Americans and infected 6.3 million others is a major election issue.
Trump has speeded up the process to come out with a vaccine and therapeutic for COVID-19 amidst a global race by major countries like Russia, China and India. He has said a vaccine might come up in October and is already working on a national plan to have it vaccinated at a mass scale.
"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 told the CNN.
"Let’s just say there is a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election. Would you get it?” she was asked.
"I will not take his word for it. He wants us to inject bleach. I -- no, I will not take his word,” Harris said, alleging that Trump is rushing through the vaccine before the elections.
“If past is prologue, that they will not, that will be muzzled, they will 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 has not,” Harris said.
However, she said that she would trust Dr Anthony Fauci, the eminent expert on this issue. “I will listen to the public health experts and hear what they have to say,” Harris said.
“I would say that there is a huge distinction between creation of a vaccine and then peer-reviewed, and to the point that it is actually viable. Big difference between vaccine and vaccinations,” she said.
"One of the issues that I think is very critical on this plain about whether people are actually vaccinated is whether there's a national plan. Joe Biden and I have a plan, a national plan. Donald Trump does not,” she said.
"So, when we start braking down different populations, there has to be an overall plan that thinks about those who -- and will administer vaccines to those who have been hardest hit, who are most vulnerable and most in need. And that's the kind of approach we need to have,” Harris said.
