Where Does Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris Stand on Vaccine Choice?

Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee and has begun her campaign in full force. With less than four months until the Presidential election, where she will face up against President Donald Trump, she will have to convince voters to support her policy positions within a highly limited time frame. 

So where does the Vice President stand on vaccine choice?

Having served alongside Joe Biden for the past three-and-a-half years, it can be assumed that their positions on the issue are similar and comparative; however, this was not always the case. Prior to being elected, Kamala Harris espoused a very public message of vaccine skepticism, albeit politically motivated, during her debate with former-Vice President Mike Pence. 

But that would mark the end of Harris’ dance with supporting vaccine choice.

When asked if Americans should take a vaccine that is approved before the 2020 election, and if she would take it, she first asserted that she would if it was approved by public health officials, specifically Dr. Anthony Fauci, but that “if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not going to take it.”

After that debate, and the subsequent release of the COVID-19 vaccine, Harris did receive the Fauci jab. From that moment on, her tune shifted to echo that of the rest of the Democrat Party, encouraging everyone to take the vaccine and supporting Joe Biden’s many nationwide vaccine mandates. This includes the mandate pertaining to all federal employees, as well as healthcare workers and entities defined as “large companies.” Thankfully, the latter mandate was struck down by the Supreme Court in early 2022.

On the topic of rhetoric, the Biden-Harris Administration consistently referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” and blamed unvaccinated individuals for the pandemic’s and accompanying lockdown’s continuance. 

In a press release from December of 2021, speaking on the topic of vaccines, Joe Biden stated, “For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. But there’s good news: If you’re vaccinated and you had your booster shot, you’re protected from severe illness and death — period.”

None of this, of course, was true, as those who took the COVID-19 vaccination were still susceptible to transmission, severe illness, and even death.

In a more recent example of Kamala Harris’ position on vaccine mandates, she required all attendants of a speech she gave in Florida to attest to vaccination before entering. Those who failed to do so were required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days of the event, wear a mask, and “socially distance” from other attendees. This occurred in January of 2023.

The Biden-Harris Administration did officially end COVID vaccine requirements for federal employees, educators, contractors, and travelers in May of 2023, over 3 years after the pandemic began. However, this was after they were put under tremendous pressure to do so by members of Congress and the general public who had signaled they had moved on.

From this record, one thing is clear: without checks on the presidency by the Supreme Court, the Biden-Harris Administration would have continued their tirade of unconstitutional impositions on medical choice and personal autonomy. With the assistance of a crisis, Kamala Harris has no problem with enforcing tyrannical medical mandates on her constituents, and is, therefore, an enemy to those who value vaccine choice.