i think most scientists did not upon whose advice and direction we relied didn t see delta coming. she said, we didn t see omicron coming and that s the nature of what this awful virus has been which as it turns out has mutations and variants. joining us now is joe johns at the white house and polo sandoval in new york. joe, first to you and these comments by vice president harris, it seems to contradict the white house s message that it s on top of the pandemic. what else is she saying? reporter: you know that messaging goes all the way back to july 4th when the president said essentially that the united states had gained the upper hand on the virus. he didn t suggest that the virus had been vanquished, but he said the country was no longer paralyzed. you fast-forward to this interview featuring the vice
expected to be the dominant variant. for now, the delta variant is driving the latest surge. both cases and hospitalizations are at levels not seen since september at the end of the summer spike. dr. anthony fauci describes a nation at war. we will win this war with this virus. we know what public health mitigations work. we just have to hang in there. we can t give up. vice president kamala harris is not helping the messaging and may be adding to public jitters saying the white house didn t see either variant coming. she told the los angeles times, quote, we didn t see delta coming. i think most scientists did not upon whose advice and direction we have relied, didn t see delta coming. we didn t see omicron coming. that s the nature of what this awful virus has been, which as it turns out has mutations and
we got the message the united states will be prepared for any additional cases coming up this winter. look, the vice president statements in the wide ranging interview with los angeles times just published seem to go against the message that the white house has been trying to put out at least since summer. essentially what she did was admit the united states was not prepared for these variants. i ll read this. her words. we didn t see delta coming, i think most scientists did not, upon whose advice and direction we have relied, didn t see delta coming, we didn t see omicron coming, and that s the nature of what this awful virus has been which as it turns out has mutations and variants. an official today going back to what you said at the top indicated that the administration did know in general there could be
i have to note it is not exactly clear at this moment whether or not the vice president gave a full-throated answer of what exactly she meant. the quote she said in the interview to the l.a. times. she said, we didn t see delta coming. i think most scientists did not upon whose advice and direction we have relied, didn t see delta coming. we didn t see omicron coming. that s the nature of what this is. this awful virus, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants. that from the vice president. one thing the vice president s office will have to answer for is exactly what the vice president meant. about us this administration has gone through great lengths of trying to project their capability to the american people that they are prepared to take care of the american people when it comes to protecting them from the virus. of course that has meant their full-throated and aggressive approach trying to get as many americans to get their boosters