VP Debate: Pence, Harris Contested COVID, Protests, But Skirted Some Key Issues

AP: Pence, Harris Spar Over COVID-19 In Vice Presidential Debate
Trading barbs through plexiglass shields, Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris turned the only vice presidential debate of 2020 into a dissection of the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with Harris labeling it “the greatest failure of any presidential administration.” Pence, who leads the president’s coronavirus task force, acknowledged that “our nation’s gone through a very challenging time this year,” yet vigorously defended the administration’s overall response to a pandemic that has killed 210,000 Americans. (Peoples, Ronayne, Price and Colvin, 10/8)

Politico: Harris And Pence Return To The Jab And Move Debate 
The most effective line of attack Democrats have against Trump is his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and Harris bludgeoned Pence for the White House’s halting and at-times chaotic response to the virus. To Harris, it is "the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.” To Pence, it was an early intervention that saved lives. (Siders, 10/7)

USA Today: VP Debate: What You Missed In The Mike Pence, Kamala Harris Faceoff
Pence defended the administration’s refusal to follow CDC guidelines, such as wearing masks and staying six feet apart, most notably at the Sept. 26 White House event unveiling Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett. ... Asked how the American people could be expected to follow the federal guidelines if the White House doesn’t, Pence pivoted away from the issue to suggest a Biden-Harris administration would lead to overreach in tackling the crisis. “That Rose Garden event, there’s been a great deal of speculation about it,” Pence said, asserting that many people who attended were tested beforehand. (Shesgreen, Bailey and Bohan, 10/8)

The Washington Post: 4 Takeaways From The Vice Presidential Debate
[Mike Pence] pointed to the swine flu pandemic that occurred during the Obama-Biden administration in 2009. “Thankfully, it was ended up not being as lethal as the coronavirus,” Pence said. “But before the end of the year, when Joe Biden was vice president of the United States, not seven and a half million people contracted the swine flu; 60 million Americans contracted the swine flu. If the swine flu had been as lethal as the coronavirus in 2009 when Joe Biden was vice president, we would have lost 2 million American lives.” The first problem with that is that the 60 million swine flu infections is based on estimates, while the current coronavirus case count is based on actual tests. The bigger problem is that if the swine flu were anywhere near as deadly as the novel coronavirus, mitigation would certainly have been much stricter, much earlier. (Blake, 10/7)

KHN and PolitiFact: In Debate, Pence And Harris Offer Conflicting Views Of Nation’s Reality 
The Trump administration’s pandemic response: decisive action that saved lives, or the greatest failure of any presidential administration? During Wednesday’s vice presidential debate, Vice President Mike Pence and the Democratic challenger, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, offered drastically different takes — from behind  plexiglass screens — on how the president has handled the COVID-19 crisis. Pence touted problematic claims, such as that President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from China helped the nation respond to the coronavirus (PolitiFact rated a similar claim “False”) and that the country would have a vaccine in less than a year (the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a vaccine, yet to be approved, will not be widely available until next year). (10/8)

On the subject of a COVID vaccine —

NPR: Pence Promises Millions Of Vaccine Doses Before 2021. Is That Realistic?
Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed — the administration’s initiative to fast-track treatment — told scientists and journalists during a webinar on Tuesday that an early assessment of the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (the two furthest along in testing) could come within the next several weeks, meaning in November or December. “We are in the process of stockpiling vaccine doses in the single-digit million doses in the month of October, November, and then in the tens of millions of doses in November,” Slaoui said. (10/7)

NPR: Harris Would Be ‘First in Line’ For A Vaccine Approved By Scientists, Not The White House
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said she would be “first in line” to take a coronavirus vaccine if it had widespread approval from the scientific community. But Harris maintained that President Trump’s handling of the virus made her wary to trust any presidential endorsement of a vaccine. “If the public health professionals, if Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, if the doctors tell us to take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it. But if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I’m not taking it,” Harris quipped when asked whether she would trust a vaccine approved under the Trump administration. (10/7)

Also —

Newsweek: Karen Pence Criticized For Joining Debate Stage Without Mask Despite Rules Mandating Use In Venue
Second lady Karen Pence appeared alongside her husband Vice President Mike Pence at the end of Wednesday's vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah without a face mask. Wearing a face mask was a condition of attending the debate. Co-chair of the Commission for Presidential Debates Frank Fahrenkopf reminded attendees to keep their face masks on during the debate. (Martin, 10/8)