With COVID-19 vaccine news, Biden and Harris’s anti-vaxxer routine looks especially conniving

Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, look particularly conniving this week after having flirted during the 2020 election with anti-vaxxer rhetoric.

Luckily for them, the people with the most power to call them on it will almost certainly do no such thing.

On Monday, markets surged on the news that Pfizer is on track to petition the federal government for authorization of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of November. The vaccine’s trial results showed its efficacy as high as 90%.

“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” said Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla. “With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis.”

President Trump said soon thereafter on social media, “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”

“HUGE NEWS,” added Vice President Mike Pence. “Thanks to the public-private partnership forged by [Trump], [Pfizer] announced its Coronavirus Vaccine trial is EFFECTIVE, preventing infection in 90% of its volunteers.”

That is good news for Pfizer and great news for the United States.

But it should be bad news for Biden and Harris. After all, as the president was promising on the campaign trail that there would likely be a vaccine available by the end of the year, it was the Democratic ticket that played footsie with anti-vaxx rhetoric, warning that any such cure promoted by the Trump administration would likely be too unsafe to take.

Indeed, despite what NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell says, Biden and Harris definitely toyed around with anti-vaxxer tropes during the 2020 election. They repeatedly warned against any vaccine endorsed by the current head of the federal government, all while boasting that they “trust the science,” which is an odd boast considering “the science” is being used in the development of a vaccine that will need approval from the federal government.

On Sept. 29, Biden said during the first presidential debate, “In terms of the whole notion of a vaccine, we’re for a vaccine, but I don’t trust him at all. Nor do you. I know you don’t. What we trust is a scientist.”

Then, during the Oct. 7 vice presidential debate, moderator Susan Page asked Harris, “If the Trump administration approves a vaccine before or after the election, should Americans take it, and would you take it?”

“If the public health professionals,” responded the senator, “if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely. But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it.”

On Oct. 15, during a town hall hosted by ABC News, Biden said of the president’s promise that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available this year that “allegedly, it’s happening, but I have not seen it yet, nor the docs that I talk to have seen it.”

The moderator, George Stephanopoulos, interjected, “And once we get it, if it is safe, if it is effective, will you mandate its use?”

Biden gave a vague answer, saying, “The answer is, depending on how clear there’s — vaccines, they say, have a very positive impact, and they are going to affect positively 85% of the American public.”

Later, at the final presidential debate, the moderator noted that “just 40% of Americans say they would definitely agree to take a coronavirus vaccine if it was approved by the government.”

“What steps,” the moderator added, “would you take to give Americans confidence in a vaccine if it were approved?”

Biden again insisted that any vaccine approved by the administration cannot be trusted, saying that whatever eventually gets the green light needs to be “totally transparent. Have the scientists of the world see it, know it, look at it, go through all the processes.” He also said with complete confidence that “there’s no prospect that there’s going to be a vaccine available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year.”

But now, with news that a working, effective vaccine may soon become available, a vaccine that will require authorization from the Trump administration, Harris and Biden are in an interesting spot.

Do they retract their earlier, extremely confident predictions that there would be no vaccine until next year? Do they encourage people to take the vaccine, even if it is approved and promoted by the Trump administration? Or do Biden and Harris stick to their guns and insist that any vaccine hyped by the Trump administration is untrustworthy?

Good money says the Democratic ticket encourages people to take the vaccine regardless of whether the Trump administration takes credit, and it does so knowing full well that few, if any, in the press will push it to reconcile its support for the drug with its previous fling with anti-vaxxer positions.

Chalk it up to the benefit of being a Democrat in the U.S.

Related Content