Dems thread the needle on vaccine politics

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, President Trump has undermined the credibility of U.S. public health agencies and pushed for breakneck-pace vaccine development, openly acknowledging that he wants a vaccine authorized for use by Election Day.

Democrats, and plenty of scientific experts, are skeptical of an “October surprise” vaccine, and have said so publicly. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, said she wouldn’t take Trump’s word on a vaccine’s safety and efficacy. Cal Cunningham, the Democratic nominee for Senate in North Carolina, has also said he’d be hesitant to take a vaccine approved prior to the election. Joe Biden, Trump’s challenger, has said he trusts vaccines — but doesn’t trust Trump.

Republicans, including the Trump campaign’s communications director, have jumped to label them all as “anti-vaxxers.”

Biden and Harris are not anti-vaccine, of course. And it’s a particularly specious claim from the Trump campaign: The president himself has pushed the baseless theory that there’s a link between vaccines and autism. But it does raise a weighty dilemma for Democrats: How can they express faith in vaccines, in scientists, and in drug makers while remaining vocal in their skepticism that Trump, the man technically in charge of the vaccine process, is appropriately focused on science, and not politics? Read more here.