Donald Trump is preparing to undermine public confidence in vaccines by forcing through a COVID-19 vaccine to boost his election prospects, and that puts his Democratic opponents in a difficult place. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris don’t want to undermine public confidence in vaccines themselves, but it’s a tricky balance between “vaccines are good” and “but not vaccines approved for political reasons before they’re ready.”
Harris said Sunday on CNN: “I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump” because “there’s very little that we can trust that [...] comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth.” Biden echoed that Monday, saying Trump has said “so many things that aren’t true, I’m worried if we do have a really good vaccine, people are going to be reluctant to take it. So he’s undermining public confidence.”
Trump continues to … how shall we say it … lie recklessly about a coronavirus vaccine. In one question-answering session with reporters on Monday he insisted he hadn’t said a vaccine could be ready before the election (he said it Friday), and then said: “What I said is by the end of the year, but I think it could even be sooner than that.” Specifically: “It could be during the month of October, actually could be before November.”
He also attacked Harris, saying: “She’s talking about disparaging a vaccine so that people don’t think the achievement was a great achievement.” Remember, Harris said: “I would trust the word of public health experts and scientists, but not Donald Trump,” so what Trump is really saying here is that Harris is disparaging some personal achievement of his. Even though there isn’t a vaccine yet and when there is, it will not be Donald Trump’s personal achievement.
Team Trump is pushing local public health officials to be ready to distribute a vaccine in October, but local public health offices have long been underfunded and are overwhelmed by the coronavirus-related tasks already on their plates, including testing and contact tracing. Even if there is a vaccine, distribution will be a giant mess. Trump’s push for an early vaccine is so extreme, and such a threat to public confidence in a vaccine when it is released, that nine pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies made a joint statement pledging to “make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority” and move to government approval only “after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study.”
Harris and Biden should be cautious. Trump is putting the entire nation in a terrible position by blatantly pushing for a vaccine as a campaign prop—but it’s important that when there is a fully tested vaccine authorized through a process free from political interference, people have confidence in it and get vaccinated so that we can all find a new, safe normal.
