{UAH} KAMALA HARRIS' OPENNING HER MOUTH ON THE VACCINE IS VERY IRRESPONSIBLE

Kamala Harris's anti-vaccine flirtation is dangerously irresponsible

by Washington Examiner, 

 

September 09, 2020 12:00 AM

 

Democrats present themselves with tiresome repetitiveness as the party of science. It's a false claim. And vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris seems determined to prove it by veering into anti-vaccine conspiracy theory territory and raising questions about the safety of any coronavirus vaccine approved while President Trump is in office.

CNN’s Dana Bash asked whether Harris would trust a vaccine released by the end of the year, or sooner, and the candidate responded, “I think that we have learned since this pandemic started, but really before that, that there's very little that we can trust that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth.”

Asked if she trusted that health experts would be able to get the “the last word” on the vaccine, Harris answered in the negative.

“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.

Eventually, Bash asked point-blank, “So, let's just say there is a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election. Would you get it?”

Harris was equivocal.

“Well, I think that's going to be an issue for all of us,” she said. “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. I will not take his word for it.”

Harris’s statement is an irresponsible one that could have dangerous ramifications for overcoming the coronavirus and for public health in general.

The modern anti-vax movement has a sordid history. It started with trial lawyers pushing fabricated research linking autism to the measles vaccine. The fake research was promoted by Robert Kennedy Jr. as well as Hollywood celebrities. The discredited pseudoscience found adherents on the fringes of the Left and Right. Trump himself dabbled in it as a private citizen, tweeting in 2014, “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!”

Committed anti-vaxxers may be relatively few in number, but there are enough to have weakened herd immunity against measles in some communities, fueling outbreaks of a dangerous disease that was once considered eradicated through successful vaccination.

Six months into the COVID-19 crisis, many schools remain closed, while businesses still operate under significant restrictions. A successful vaccine would allow everyone to move on from this mess and get back to living normal lives.

Given the sacrifices made by the public this year, the pandemic is an opportunity to appreciate the miracle of vaccination. Instead, irresponsible opportunists such as Harris are already sowing doubts even while vaccines are still being tested.

Even if Harris is not explicitly saying she’d refuse a vaccine, she’s playing right into the hands of those who will campaign against any sort of vaccine.

The truth is that Trump cannot release an unsafe vaccine. While the vaccine process is moving at a breakneck pace, each vaccine candidate will be tested on 30,000 people. Major drug companies making the vaccine will have to release their results. These will be evaluated by scientists working at the Food and Drug Administration before public distribution.

Though a vaccine is unlikely to be released next month, it’s possible to be available by the end of the year. The rollout would probably prioritize medical workers, the elderly, and those with underlying health complications.

Even a safe and effective vaccine may not work for everybody. So the only way to succeed is for a large enough percentage of the population to take the vaccine to achieve herd immunity.

Harris’s comments, even if she backtracks, fuel distrust. Now, even if the FDA approves a vaccine and public health officials vouch for it, people will be more suspicious of whether they were pressured into doing so and whether dissenting voices were “muzzled.”

And what happens if Trump is reelected? That would mean any vaccine released over the next four years would be greeted with similar suspicions.

It’s time for Harris to stop playing politics with public health.

EM         -> { Trump for 2020 }

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"