US Election: Mike Pence blames Biden for swine flu 'failure' in intense VP debate
MIKE PENCE has launched an extraordinary attack on Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, blaming the Democrats for the coronavirus pandemic.
US Election: Pence slams Obama administration over swine flu
The Vice President responded to a question from debate moderator Susan Page, of USA Today, about President Donald Trump’s wellbeing by targeting his predecessor’s record on the Swin Flu pandemic of 2009. Mr Pence used the previous, much less lethal pandemic to underscore “failure” from the Democrats in government.
Mr Pence said: “When you talk about failure in this administration, we actually do know what failure looks like in a pandemic.
“It was 2009. The Swine Flu arrived in the United States.
“Thankfully it ended up not being as lethal as coronavirus, 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 American’s 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 two million American lives.”
The CDC reported that the virus caused 60.8 million illnesses and 12,469 deaths in the US.
Following the debate, Mr Pence’s claims about the Obama administrations handling of swine flu were questioned
Ron Klain, President Obama’s chief of staff, was referenced by Mr Pence for saying last year the Democrats were lucky and did everything wrong in managing the pandemic.
But in May, Mr Klaon clarified the Obama administration speedily adapted to the H1N1 situation, "quickly distributing emergency equipment from the federal stockpile, deferring to public health experts and having them take the lead on messaging”.
Mr Pence’s attacks over swine flu received a mixed reception from viewers.
Frank Luntz, a pollster using focus groups with undecided voters, said on Twitter: “My focus group says Mike Pence is stable and steady, but they didn’t like him going back to swine flu.”
He also shared ROPER polling from 2009 which showed Americans supporting the Obama administration’s handling of swine flu, with 57 percent approving to 40 percent disapproving .
A 2019 report marking 10 years since swine flu also found "the impact of the H1N1 virus on the global population during the first year was less severe than that of previous pandemics" and that "the United States mounted a complex, multi-faceted and long-term response to the pandemic."
The swine flu comments followed Mr Pence responding to Ms Harris’ previous comments about Mr Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, Ms Harris said she would not take a vaccine for the virus if Mr Trump recommended it.
Mr Pence took issue with this, and added: “The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine, if a vaccine emerges during a Trump presidency, is unconscionable.”
He also said: ”The reality is that we’re going to have a vaccine Senator in record time. In unheard of time. In less than a year.”
The debate followed a scare for Mr Pence when the President and many White House staffers caught coronavirus.
Mr Pence and his wife tested negative for the virus on October 2.
But social media speculated whether that was true due to Mr Pence’s reported pink eye at tonight’s debate.