By Hanna Park
(Greenville, S.C.) Vice President Kamala Harris visited Greenville, S.C., on Monday, as part of her first stop of the national vaccination tour for COVID-19 Vaccine Action Week, The Hill reports.
“The vaccines — let me say it again — are safe,” Harris said, touting the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. “They are safe. And they are free. And they are effective. And it is that simple. If you are vaccinated, you are protected. If your community is vaccinated, COVID rates in your community will go down.”
Speaking at the Phillis Wheatley Community Center, Harris stressed that misinformation was a major barrier to getting more Americans vaccinated.
“I know there are folks out there who aren’t saying they won’t get the vaccine, what they’re saying is they’re just not sure. A lot of it has to do with the misinformation or maybe the lack of correct information. And so, people may question the safety and the efficacy of the vaccine. They may have heard things that aren’t quite true,” the vice president said.
Later Monday, Harris is expected to tour a pop-up vaccination site at the YMCA of Greenville and participate in a conversation on voting rights with community leaders in South Carolina. She is set to visit Atlanta on June 18 and make further stops in the southern U.S., which has particularly lagged in vaccination rates.
First Lady Jill Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and cabinet members are also making stops in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana throughout the week.
“The vaccines have gone through FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clinical trials. Why do we do that? To test, to ensure that they are safe to use and the FDA has said they are safe to use. They went through the trials and they passed,” she added.
The vaccination tour, led by the vice president, is part of the White House’s National Month of Action on vaccines as it aims to reach its goal of vaccinating 70% of U.S. adults with at least one shot by July 4.