Kamala Harris Slips in Interview: White House Didn't Anticipate COVID Mutations
Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that the Biden administration was floored when variants rained on the administration’s parade after President Joe Biden declared COVID-19 under control in July.
“We didn’t see Delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn’t see Delta coming,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We didn’t see Omicron coming. And that’s the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants,” she said.
“Vice President Kamala Harris recently told the Los Angeles Times in an interview that the White House was unprepared for both delta and omicron variants of the virus.”
Hot tip vp, you’ll aren’t prepared for nothing that comes your way and develops into a crisis.— Jeff Murdock (@nflphucu) December 18, 2021
In a damage-control comment shared by CNN, what the network called a “Harris adviser” tried to explain away the comment.
“The vice president’s comments referred to the exact kind of mutation,” the adviser said.
“The administration knew mutations were possible, it’s the reason we ordered extra tests, extra gear and extra PPE. It is the reason the President, vice president and our entire administration warned early and often that the best way to get on the other side of the pandemic is to get vaccinated. We were and continue to be prepared.”
“She and the President have warned for months, they said the best way to get on the other side of this is to get vaccinated. Why were they doing that? Because they were clear mutations could occur,” the Harris adviser continued.
Are Kamala & Brandon the only people in America who didnt know there would be several variants?
“We didnt see Delta coming. We didnt see Omicron coming”https://t.co/qTnTrShECA
holy incompetence!
Let’s Go Brandon!@VP @JoeBiden
— Mary Loves America (@MarySmi36126717) December 18, 2021
However, White House coronavirus guru Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that there was both preparation and surprise, according to the New York Post.
“We certainly were anticipating that there were going to be variants because we have so many viruses, so much replication going on in the community,” Fauci said during an appearance on CNN.
#Unprepared: Asked about #KamalaHarris‘ comment that the #JoeBiden administration “didn’t see” #COVID #variants coming. #DrFraud Does his best to try to cover for her accurate statement. #DrFauci #Omicron pic.twitter.com/kQaKC3RVFe
— Sn00pster (@sn00pdad) December 19, 2021
“If you give a virus enough opportunity to replicate, you know, it’s going to ultimately mutate, and sometimes those mutations wind up being a new variant, and that’s exactly what happened with Delta, and certainly, that’s what happened with Omicron,” he said.
But all that preparation still left them unaware, he said.
“What was not anticipated was the extent of the mutations and the amino acid substitutions in Omicron, which is really unprecedented. It kind of came out of nowhere,” Fauci said.
In an Op-Ed in National Review, Jim Geraghty offered a counterpoint to the impression Harris left of a White House totally surprised.
“It is extremely difficult to believe that the president and vice president were not briefed or warned about the potential for variants that were more contagious than the original strains of SARS-CoV-2,” he wrote.
“The top U.S. virology experts may not have said, specifically, ‘you will be dealing with a more contagious variant called Delta in mid-summer, and an even more contagious but likely milder variant called Omicron around Thanksgiving,’ but it is simply implausible that in all the briefings Biden and Harris received, they were not warned on the potential threat of more contagious variants and updates on those variants as they emerged.”
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