Biden: ‘I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump’

Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden said Wednesday he will not let politics get in the way of the development and delivery of a coronavirus vaccine and warned that President Trump cannot be trusted to do the same.

Mr. Biden vowed that if he is elected president in November, science will guide his decision-making from the White House, and said the stakes are too high to let politics intrude.

“Americans have had to endure President Trump’s incompetence and dishonesty when it comes to testing and personal protective equipment,” Mr. Biden said in Wilmington, Del. “We can’t afford to repeat those fiascoes when it comes to a vaccine when it occurs. The stakes are too high.”

“So, Let me be clear,” he said. “I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump. At this moment, the American people can’t either.”

The coronavirus has hung over the 2020 presidential race, with polls showing that voters disapprove of the way Mr. Trump has handled COVID-19 but don’t blame him for the virus.

Mr. Biden has leaned into the issue, calling for total transparency in the development and delivery of a vaccine.

On Wednesday, Mr. Biden said the White House must spell out the criteria it is relying on to prove the safety of the vaccine and to have scientists validate those findings.

He also said the administration must share how it plans to deliver the vaccine in a fair and equitable way.

Delivering his remarks after meeting with public health experts, Mr. Biden pledged to pursue the implementation of a distribution plan that includes a detailed time table for when people can get the vaccine and direction for how the vaccine should be shipped and stored.

“I will provide the leadership necessary to carry out that plan,” Mr. Biden said. “I will level with the American people. I will take responsibility and I will support rather than tear down the experts responsible for the day-to-day execution of that plan.”