Kamala Harris' COVID Vaccine Quote Turned Heads At The VP Debate

During the Oct. 7, 2020, vice presidential debate, California Sen. Kamala Harris went toe-to-toe with Vice President Mike Pence. Although the internet and the media are still weighing in on how each candidate performed, some early opinions are already here. And some of those opinions stem from a hot topic during the debate — COVID-19. To start her evening, Harris immediately went after the Trump administration, calling their handling of COVID-19 the "greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country."

The two continued to discuss COVID-19 and how many lives it has taken since it landed in the U.S., discussing the impending vaccine President Donald Trump has been insisting is nearly ready for public consumption. Harris wasn't keen on this vaccine, though, and she shared those thoughts during the debate. She said, "If Dr. Fauci, the doctors, tell us that we should take it, I'll be the first in line to take it. But if Donald Trump tells us we should take it, I'm not going to take it."

So what did the internet have to say about Harris' quote? Let's take a look.

After California Sen. Kamala Harris stated she wouldn't take a vaccine recommended by President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence told her she was "undermining" confidence in the vaccine the Trump administration is promising. However, as BuzzFeed pointed out, Harris' response to the vaccine is less about the Trump administration and more about doctors saying a vaccine shouldn't be ready that quickly. 

What's more? Harris previously told CNN that she wouldn't trust President Trump's vaccine, because she believed it would be motivated by politics rather than public health. "If past is prologue that they will not, they'll be muzzled, they'll be suppressed, they will be sidelined," Harris said of the doctors and scientists working on the vaccine. "Because [Trump is] looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days and he's grasping to get whatever he can to pretend he has been a leader on this issue when he is not." 

Of course, many had an opinion about Harris' vaccine comment. "Millions of Americans nod in agreement," one person said, while another commenter wrote, "Nice tight zinger there." However, others weren't as impressed. "Incredibly reckless and dangerous for Kamala Harris to continue to scare people away from a coronavirus vaccine," a user penned. Someone else said, "It's a danger to public health." Clearly, viewers are divided on this issue.