VP Harris says it’s ‘no one’s fault’ that COVID-19 spread to U.S.

Vice President Kamala Harris said it’s “no one’s fault” that COVID-19, which originated in China, spread to the U.S. and the rest of the world.

In an interview with CBS News, the vice president also set herself apart from President Biden by refusing to blame unvaccinated Americans for the spread in the U.S.

“I don’t think this is a moment to talk about fault,” Ms. Harris told interviewer Margaret Brennan. “It is no one’s fault that this virus hit our shores, or hit the world. It is more about individual power and responsibility and the decisions that everyone has the choice to make.”

The Republican National Committee responded on Tuesday, “Wrong. It’s China’s fault.”

The virus originated in Wuhan, China. A report by a U.S. government national laboratory concluded this year that it’s “plausible” the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan, and that the theory deserves further investigation.

Last year, Ms. Harris blamed then-President Trump for the virus spreading in the U.S., saying Mr. Trump was “delusional” and failed to take the virus “seriously from the start.”

“This virus has impacted almost every country, but there’s a reason it has hit America worse than any other advanced nation. It’s because of Trump’s failure to take it seriously from the start,” she said at the time. “His refusal to get testing up and running, his flip-flopping on social distancing and wearing masks, his delusional belief that he knows better than the experts — all of that is the reason and the reason an American dies of COVID-19 every 80 seconds.”

But deaths from COVID-19 under the Biden administration now equal the number during the Trump administration. The U.S. reached the milestone of 800,000 deaths last week, double the 400,000 deaths that had been recorded by Mr. Trump’s last full day in office.

Her latest interview also is a departure from Mr. Biden, who has laid blame on people who don’t get vaccinated.

In September, Mr. Biden told Americans in a speech, “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And it’s caused by the fact that despite America having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot.”

In her comments to CBS, Ms. Harris said Americans “have the power today to go out and if you’ve not been boosted, go get boosted. The power today to go and get vaccinated. And that will have an impact on where we end up tomorrow.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.