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Transcript/Script US – COVID (TV)
HEADLINE: US Vice President Tests Positive for COVID-19
TEASER: Kamala Harris diagnosed same day Biden administration lays out plans to boost availability of a drug to combat coronavirus
PUBLISHED AT: 04/26/2022 at 7:49 pm
BYLINE: Patsy Widakuswara
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Jepsen, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AFP, AP, SKYPE, PFIZER
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:34
VID APPROVED BY: mia
TYPE: TV
EDITOR NOTES: Radio track included.))
((INTRO: ))
[[The office of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that Harris tested positive for COVID-19, the same day the Biden administration laid out plans to boost availability of Paxlovid, an antiviral drug to treat the disease. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. ]]
((Harris blows whistle to start Easter Egg Roll, various kids and Harris, AP 4376150))
((Natsound whistle))
((NARRATOR))
One week before Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19, she had participated in a White House Easter Egg Roll, an outdoor event attended by 30,000 people, including children.
((Biden and FLOTUS, Easter Egg Roll, AP 4376150))
((NARRATOR))
But the White House said she hadn’t been in close contact with President Joe Biden or first lady Jill Biden since.
((Radio track: Press secretary Jen Psaki))
((Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary)) “There's a regular testing cadence, obviously the vice president was tested this morning because of that regular testing cadence. And for the rest of us – anyone who's going to be around the president to travel with him or see him in the Oval Office is tested that day.”
((Stockshots Paxlovid, AFP V000_9RR8Z3))
((MANDATORY COURTESY: COURTESY OF PFIZER))
((NARRATOR))
Harris’ diagnosis came on the same day the administration announced plans to expand access to Paxlovid, the Pfizer-made antiviral pill to combat COVID-19, and increase “test-to-treat” programs in which people can go to clinics and pharmacies and leave with a five-day regimen of the drug if they test positive.
((Radio track: Dr. Ashish Jha is the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator))
((Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator))
“We want to lower the severity of the disease that people get if they get infected. And we want to lower the hospitalizations, we want to lower deaths.”
((Various of asylum-seekers camping inside a bus station in Tijuana, AP 4373715, TC 0:55 and various migrants shot))
((NARRATOR))
Meanwhile, earlier this week, a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42, a Trump-era order that allows authorities along the U.S.-Mexico border to turn migrants back to Mexico or their home countries because of pandemic concerns.
((Establish, AP 4377256))
((NARRATOR))
The move was applauded by Republican states, including Missouri and Texas, that pushed for the Biden administration to keep asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico.
((Radio track: Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt))
((AP 4377256))
((Eric Schmitt, Missouri Attorney General))
“It's a big win, I think, for border security and the rule of law. And we'll be back in court on May 13th."
((Various migrants shots AP 4373715))
((NARRATOR))
But some analysts say the Title 42 ruling may give the administration an opportunity on immigration.
((Radio track: Ariel Ruiz Soto, policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, via Skype))
((https://app.frame.io/player/bc2d6845-c290-464c-9751-2a0248d13346 TC 2:22))
((Ariel Ruiz Soto, Migration Policy Institute)) ((courtesy: Skype))
“Not just internally to coordinate, but also for them to work more closely with our partners in that region, not just Mexico but also as far as Panama and Colombia, so that you can actually see a better response in preparation for future flows. Not just for Title 42, but future migration flows, and we think that's a good thing.”
((GOP, AP 4374434))
((NARRATOR))
Some Republicans in Congress have used Title 42 as a bargaining chip, …
((Vaccinations in Ecuador, AFP V000_9236BZ))
… arguing that that if the administration believes COVID is no longer a problem at the border, Congress should not approve the $5 billion global pandemic response funds requested to support vaccinations around the world.
The administration says it is still pushing for the funds.
((Biden walking off AF1, AP 4377093))
((NARRATOR))
With Biden set to host the virtual global COVID summit in less than three weeks,
((Various mass vaccination in Indonesia, AFP V000_9YR4PV))
((NARRATOR))
the administration is under pressure to show it can fund its global pandemic response as it pressures other countries to step up to help finance the effort.
((Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, at the White Hous
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington D. C.
Embargo DateApril 27, 2022 00:30 EDT
Byline((Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, at the White House.))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
