DONALD Trump demanded Joe Biden and “not very competent” Kamala Harris “immediately apologize for anti-vaccine rhetoric.”
The president said Monday that the coronavirus jab would be available in “record time” before taking shots at his rivals.
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“Biden and his very liberal running mate – the most liberal person in Congress, by the way, is not a competent person in my opinion, would destroy this country and would destroy this economy – should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now,” Trump said.
On Sunday, during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Harris touched on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and whether she would trust a vaccine that Trump hopes will soon be available, even though medical experts have cautioned that more testing is needed.
“I would not trust his word,” Harris said. “I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump.”
However, speaking to reporters after a campaign stop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Biden said he would take a vaccine if scientists say it’s safe to do so.
The presidential hopeful added that he would like to see a vaccine tomorrow, even if it would cost him the election by helping Trump.
Biden also called for “full transparency on the vaccine,” warning that Trump’s repeated misstatements and falsehoods with respect to the virus are “undermining public confidence.”
He said he’s worried that “if we do have a really good vaccine people are going to be reluctant to take it.”
The Trump administration is pushing for a vaccine to be produced before Election Day, CNN reported.
On Thursday, the station revealed that Trump pressured officials to speed up the vaccine development to appear as though the pandemic’s end is in sight.
Last week, the CDC asked governors last week to accelerate building permit applications for vaccine distribution sites.
This is so these facilities would be running before November 3.
“Too much of the evidence points to the Trump administration pressuring the [Food and Drug Administration] to approve a vaccine by Election Day to boost the President’s re-election campaign,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“All Americans want a safe and effective vaccine as soon as possible, but if these important life and death decisions appear political, it will only undermine Americans’ confidence in a vaccine and prolong the pandemic.”
But Dr Anthony Fauci has insisted the American public should trust health officials with a vaccine, insisting it “would not be approved for the American public unless it was indeed both safe and effective.”
