US Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview, published on Friday, that the current administration did not foresee the spread of the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants.
"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," she told the Los Angeles Times. "We didn’t see Omicron coming. And that’s the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants."
Harris also dismissed accusations that President Joe Biden had declared victory over the pandemic too early, shortly before the Delta variant started rapidly spreading in the US.
"While the virus hasn’t been vanquished, we know this: It no longer controls our lives," he said on 4 July. "It no longer paralyzes our nation. And it’s within our power to make sure it never does again."