Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently spoke out against Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration’s politicization of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Christie declared that Harris is the one who got the ball rolling when she emphatically stated during her only vice-presidential debate that she would not receive any vaccine approved by regulators under the Trump administration.
“That put us in a totally different area that allowed it to be politicized, and that politicization is just continuing now,” Christie said in a televised interview.
President Biden recently announced that he is issuing a new mandate to push more Americans to sign up to get a Covid-19 vaccine since 80 million people in the United States have refused to receive the jab.
Some of the main reasons Americans have chosen not to receive the vaccine are concerns about its effectiveness and the risk of side effects.
During the vice presidential debate in October, Harris used the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak as an example of what she described as the Trump administration’s shortcomings.
Harris indicated that she would be skeptical of any vaccine roll-out that involved former President Trump.
“If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us, we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely. But, if Donald Trump tells us we should take it, I’m not taking it,” said Harris.
Christie and other critics say that comment sowed the seed of doubt in American minds and caused the vaccine roll-out to become political.
Harris supporters say that Trump was too cavalier about the virus, which led to the vice president’s doubts.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was recently interviewed and said that Democrats and V.P. Harris need to “stop playing politics with people’s lives by undermining confidence in a safe and effective vaccine.”
Pence said that while Trump tried to increase the speed of the development and release of the vaccine with initiatives such as Operation Warp Speed, no corners were cut in safety measures.
The former vice president said that any vaccine released to the public had been vetted and then approved by several agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“So, to have Kamala Harris say, two, three times in a row that she would refuse to take the vaccine that was produced under the Trump administration” is unconscionable, Pence said.
According to another report, Harris was asked a month before the debate if she would be receiving the vaccine, and her response was: “Well, 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. I will not take his word for it. He wants us to inject bleach. I—no, I will not take his word.”
Biden questioned vaccine too
Then-candidate Biden also questioned any vaccine developed and delivered during the Trump administration.
“Look at what’s happened. Enormous pressure was put on the CDC not to put out the detailed guidelines. The enormous pressure put on the CDC not to put out the detailed guidelines. The enormous pressure being put on the FDA to say they’re going, that the following protocol will, in fact, reduce, it will have a giant impact on Covid.
“All these things turn out not to be true, and when a president continues to mislead and lie when we finally do, God willing, get a vaccine, who’s going to take the shot? Who’s going to take the shot? You going to be the first one to say, ‘Put me—sign me up, and now say it’s OK’? I’m not being facetious.”
Since the inauguration, President Biden and V.P. Harris have become significant supporters of the vaccine.
“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: what more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We have made vaccinations free, safe, and convenient. The vaccine is FDA approved. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and the refusal has cost all of us,” Biden stated recently.
