Does Politico Know Who Kamala Harris Is? – Mother Jones

This is Kamala Harris. She is staying sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America.Saul Loeb/dpa through Zuma

Vice President Kamala Harris examined constructive for Covid on Tuesday, and Politico desires to know why she is getting leading-of-the-line health and fitness care to treat it. Yesterday’s “West Wing Playbook” newsletter devoted lots of paragraphs to pondering health care ethics and why Harris is getting Paxlovid, a highly effective new retroviral medication for Covid-19. But a good solution is only 6 words extensive: Since SHE IS THE VICE PRESIDENT!

Harris is the future in line to operate the most highly effective region in the environment. She is also infected with a virus that can cause short and longterm disease, even in people who are wholesome and vaccinated. So why would not she and her medical practitioners take all attainable safety measures? Paxlovid is readily available with a prescription from a physician for people at large threat of developing a significant circumstance of Covid-19. Is the vice president an obese, diabetic octogenarian? No, but neither is she a 25-yr-outdated athlete. Most importantly, she demands to be ready to run the country at a moment’s recognize. 

Continue to, Politico desires to know “Why did Kamala take the Pfizer pill?” even though she is, as considerably as we know, asymptomatic. The e-newsletter quotations medical professionals who dilemma the prescription:

“Why,” asked JONATHAN REINER, professor of medicine and operation at George Washington College University of Medication & Health and fitness Sciences, “would you give Paxlovid to an individual without having symptoms?”

Um, maybe due to the fact she is the vice president?

Politico also contrasts Harris’ fast accessibility to Paxlovid with the trouble many standard People in america have experienced accessing it: 

…medical ethicists argued that the ethical rationalization for offering Harris the medicine only underscores how unfair the method is.

“It’s what I make of the American wellbeing treatment system—better to be rich and connected,” said ARTHUR CAPLAN, a New York College professor of medical ethics.

Harris’ fast entry to Paxlovid sharply contrasts with the relaxation of the country’s means to get it. The sheer logistics of finagling a prescription, and then getting the supplements within times of symptom onset, has difficult the drug’s rollout immediately after it was to start with licensed in December.

Indeed, some men and women continue to have problems having Paxlovid. Indeed, overall health care is improved for the rich. Does that mean the vice president need to not acquire significant-top quality healthcare care? No—because she is the vice president. 

The publication did also quote Céline Gounder, a physician who advised President Joe Biden’s transition team on Covid-19. Grounder, a practicing medical professional and epidemiologist, pointed out that Harris does certainly qualify for Paxlovid and that in some cases environment leaders get excellent professional medical treatment for a cause. “It’s about what’s most effective for the nation,” she said.

That is the correct response. Why are we even questioning this?