VP Kamala Harris Reveals to NBC 500 Million Covid Tests Will Be Sent Out ‘Next Week.’ White House Immediately Clarifies
Vice President Kamala Harris sat for a lengthy interview with NBC News’ Craig Melvin, and when pressed on the Biden Administration’s preparedness for Covid tests while the pandemic still rages, she said that she believed the pledged goal of 500 million Covid tests would start going out “shortly” and she believed that would happen in the “next week.”
Minutes after the video of this aired on the TODAY show Thursday morning, however, the White House clarified her comments in a statement to CBS News.
Melvin was unsparing in his questioning, opening this section of the interview by noting that “we are two years into this” and “why didn’t the administration just go out secure more at-home tests after the Delta surge in the fall? Why are we at a point where folks still can’t get tests?”
“We just ordered — I don’t have the number in front of me — but millions of tests, the vice president replied. “We have 20,000 sites where people can go, and I urge people to, you can Google it or go onto any search engine and find out where a free testing site is available.”
Melvin seemed unimpressed and replied, “But Madam Vice President, the fact that we’re telling people to Google where to get a test…” to which Harris pushed back.
“But come on, now, I mean really. If you want to figure out how to get across town to some restaurant you heard is great, you usually do Google to figure out where it is. So that’s simply about giving people, right, a mechanism by which they can locate something that they need, something that can help them,” the VP said.
Melvin then brought up President Joe Biden’s pledge of 500 million tests that have been ordered to be sent to every American who wants one, asking “do we know when those are going out?”
“Shortly,” Harris replied and when pressed, added “They’ve been ordered —I have to look at the current information. I think it’s going to be by next week. But soon. Absolutely soon. it’s a matter of urgency for us.”
CBS News White House reporter Tim Perry tweeted a statement he received from the White House shortly after that claiming that the White House was “walking back” Harris’ remarks, which was quickly deleted in favor of one characterizing it as a clarification.
Perry’s new tweet read, “the President’s 500 million at-home tests will be sent out later this month, and we expect all contracts to be awarded over the course of the next two weeks.”
A White House official tells Mediaite, “Today, as a part of the President’s remarks and briefing, he will announce that in addition to the 500 million tests that we are in the process of acquiring, he is directing his team to procure 500 million more tests to meet future demand.”
Watch above via NBC.
