The rate of new cases has slowed, the number of deaths has dropped, all signs are pointing to a probable winding down of the COVID-19 pandemic which robbed more than 536,000 people of their lives in the United States alone, while others have lost incomes, jobs, opportunities, and homes. And because there now appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel, officials from the Biden administration are urging everyone to get vaccinated in order to keep the momentum towards normalcy going.

While many are eager for the opportunity to get the shot, several polls show there is still significant resistance to the vaccine among one particular demographic: according to NBC Miami, Republican Trump supporters. And now The View's conservative host Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Senator John McCain, is laying the blame for vaccine reticence on a surprising person's doorstep — that of Vice President Kamala Harris. McCain blames Harris' actions as a vice-presidential candidate for tripping up the country's vaccination drive.

As proof of Harris' supposed guilt, Meghan McCain produced a 2020 interview where the vice president said she wouldn't trust a vaccine because it was created and produced by the Trump administration. McCain said,

"She's expressing skepticism about the vaccine under the Trump administration. A lot of Republicans I know are expressing skepticism about the vaccine under the Biden administration. Which is why this has been so dangerous that this has become so politicized. Both sides are equally responsible for this. But the media really lauded her at the time when she said that. She didn't get nearly enough pushback."

McCain is sort of an equal opportunity critic of all things COVID. She has also expressed distrust in pandemic expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. She voiced her opinions on The View in late February, saying,

"I don't think that he is an unbiased actor in any of this and he is a government official — I'm one of those people who feel that way about him."

That was hardly the first time McCain had gone after Dr. Fauci. She followed up her criticism on Twitter:

"We need someone else in charge of coronavirus messaging and leadership."

Meghan McCain's comments didn't sit too well with members of the Twitter-verse who let her have it; a few even said they had stopped watching The View because of McCain's commentary, including this Twitter user who posted:

"I'll have to go research what she said – I refuse to watch @TheView when she is on – she regularly says things that are not accurate or are out right lies – and too often ignorant & racist as well."

A second pointed out that the vice president was quoted out of context, tweeting,

"The clip she had played was edited and she didn't play the clip from the debate where K.H. says she'll be ‘first in line’ if the vaccine were approved by medical experts. To adapt something my grandma used to say: @MeghanMcCain‘...will lie when the truth is handy.’"

A third Twitter user went after McCain's husband, posting:

"I honestly believe, besides being quite immature, she parrots the views of her very conservative husband, Ben Domenech who is The Federalist publisher and recently signed on to Fox News as a commentator. To me, Meghan is the epitome of 'think before you speak'."

In point of fact, like McCain, Domenech's publication has accused Harris of, quote, "turn[ing] the vaccine into a political football."

The Biden Administration, meanwhile, hopes that all states will offer vaccines to eligible adults by May 1st, 2021. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hopes to celebrate July 4th as, quote, "our independence from this virus."

#KamalaHarris #MeghanMcCain #VicePresident