Meghan McCain said Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were at least partly responsible for the number of Americans who don’t want a coronavirus vaccine.
During a segment of ABC’s “The View,” McCain argued that both Harris and Cuomo had cast doubt on the vaccine’s development during former President Donald Trump’s administration, fueling further doubt in those who might have already been skeptical of its efficacy and safety. (RELATED: ‘Extremely Bad Message’: Meghan McCain Rips Democrats For Double Standard On Andrew Cuomo And Brett Kavanaugh)
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McCain first noted polling that indicated 32% to 41% of Republicans weren’t certain they wanted to take the vaccine, adding that she personally believed the number of skeptics is even higher.
“Personally, I said — I tweeted last night, I’m happy to get a vaccine live on the show. I do trust science. I trust doctors, and quite frankly I would let them put an iPod nano between my shoulder blades if it means I can get drunk at Caesar’s Palace again,” McCain said. “So, I’ll do whatever anybody wants. I do trust the doctors, however, I want to show a clip to explain why it’s happening with Republicans.”
McCain went on to show Harris, appearing on CNN during the 2020 campaign, telling Dana Bash what she thought about a vaccine developed during the Trump administration.
“Well, I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump, and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the — the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about,” Harris said at the time. “I will not take his word for it.”
McCain noted that Cuomo had also suggested that a vaccine rollout under Trump was suspect in his mind, and, although she clarified that both sides had certainly politicized the issue, the messaging coming from experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci was not helping.
“Republicans are contrarian by nature. We are built from my very fabric up to question authority and to question big government, and when big government is saying, ‘you have to do X, Y and Z,’ we’re going to question it,” McCain continued. “I’m going to question it, and I think that there has been a real, real misstep with messaging from people like Dr. Fauci, which I know I’m going to get eviscerated for saying this. I don’t 100% trust him, and I don’t think that he is an unbiased actor in any of this.”
“There have been many, many opportunities to right this wrong including President Biden going on TV and giving credit to President Trump for the help with the rollout of this vaccine which he didn’t do. The Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine and Johnson & Johnson didn’t just switch vaccines depending on who’s in power,” McCain concluded.