Vice Presidential Pool Reports of April 6, 2021

VP pool report #1

VPOTUS landed at Midway just before 1 pm local time. Greeting her at the airport were Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who both applauded briefly as she came down the stairs of AF2. She chatted with each before getting into her vehicle.

We are rolling to our first stop in Chicago.

VP pool report #2

The people at the vaccination site for this visit, seated in spaced chairs and after receiving their shots, didn't immediately realize that VPOTUS and the other officials had entered the room, until Mayor Lightfoot roused them by asking them to welcome the Vice President.

"It is good to be in the house of labor!" VPOTUS said.

She briefly addressed the room: "what you all are doing is so important, both for the folks who are administering vaccinations, and those who have received the vaccine. Please tell all your friends, tell your aunties and uncles, and your grandparents and kid that when it's their turn, is their time and let's all just do what we need to do to be healthy to be safe, take care of ourselves and our families, and in that way we will build back up."

VPOTUS then chatted with one man getting his shot, Lucio Polanco, a 20-year, SEIU high-rise window washer receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and asked him about his work. Turning to the vaccinator, Osman Meah, Pharmacy Manager at Jewel Osco, she said, "How many shots a month do you do — if you had to guess? 12,000? No kidding. Wow."

There was then a brief speaking program, with remarks from Gov. Pritzker, Sen. Durbin, Sen. Duckworth, Rep. Davis and Mayor Lightfoot. Most of it was praise for each other's work and the work of other people in the room to get vaccines out. There was also much talk of the importance of labor and unions.

VPOTUS spoke last.

"So, we just celebrated the beginning of spring, and depending on your faith or what you believe in or what you think about—Passover and Easter and Ramadan. Whatever your religion or if you don't have a religion, this a moment, just because of the time of the year. And it's a moment where we feel a sense of renewal. We see the buds on the trees, we see the flowers starting to bloom, the days are longer, it's starting to get warm. And we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Because we've been going through so much, so much death. So much loss: loss of life, loss of jobs, loss of normalcy for our children, loss of very critical stages of their education. And a lot of folks also were isolated because we said that's what we have to do. You can't hang out with your friends. You might have to be alone at home. And you know when people are isolated it tends to make this feel alone, like it's just us."

She talked about collective work, and how organized labor is built on that sense of collective need and collective effort. Then moving into recounting her trip to the water treatment plant in Oakland yesterday and repeating a line that she thinks wars will soon be fought over water the way they were fought over oil, she said, "The jobs to build up the water infrastructure that I was looking at yesterday—that's plumbers, that's pipe fitters, electricians. That's what's going to build back up our infrastructure. We're talking about human infrastructure. Well Kamala, what's that about? Human infrastructure. If you've got children or elderly relatives, you can't go to work if you don't have somebody who's got b to take care of them. That's called human infrastructure."

The VP's office sends along this background:

Today, Vice President Harris is traveling to Chicago. She will be participating in a walking tour of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 union hall, which currently serves as a COVID-19 vaccination site. She will be highlighting the importance of getting vaccinated, and the event will illustrate the strong partnerships that are making vaccination sites possible. Last week, the Vice President began championing the next phase of the public education campaign from the White House - she spoke at the launch event of the COVID-19 Community Corps, which is encouraging Americans to get vaccinated by providing accurate information from trusted sources.

Further, today's event will happen against the backdrop of news that was announced this morning:

• The CDC announced that Illinois is receiving $90M, and Chicago is receiving $33M (~$123M total), to support local efforts to increase vaccination uptake and equity. This is part of a $3B investment for 64 jurisdictions across the country, thanks to the American Rescue Plan and the CARES Act.
• We reached 150 million shots in the U.S.
• The vaccine will be available to all adults by April 19 – earlier than the original target date of May 1st.

Vice President Harris will be joined by the following elected officials:

• Governor JB Pritzker
• Mayor Lori Lightfoot
• Senator Dick Durbin
• Senator Tammy Duckworth
• Congressman Danny Davis

Additional Background on the Chicago Federation of Labor Site

• The vaccination site, located at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 in Chicago, is open to union workers who live or work in Chicago who are eligible for vaccinations.
• This unique partnership is the first site in the nation run by the labor movement for all eligible union members, and will support the City of Chicago's efforts to get vaccines to Chicagoans who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
• The vaccination site is expected to handle approximately 1,200 vaccinations per week, with additional capacity added as vaccine supply increases.
• As vaccine eligibility expands, so will the Chicago Federation of Labor program.

VP pool report #3

VPOTUS made an OTR stop at the Brown Sugar Bakery on the south side. She was joined by Lt. Gov.Julianna Stratton and Cook County state's attorney Kim Foxx.

The bakery's owner seemed to have gotten stuck in traffic behind the motorcade, so VPOTUS was greeted by the staff of the black women owned-small business. She said she had wanted to highlight their efforts and their role in the community during the pandemic.

She said her favorite is German chocolate, and gets that for her birthday each year, and her staff had preordered a slice for her. The bakery's specialty is caramel cake, and she said she was looking forward to that too.

Because the owner wasn't there, the conversation wasn't as in depth as what VPOTUS had hoped for — she asked if the bakery had received PPP loans and the staff wasn't sure. Instead, she transitioned into asking them about their work making the cakes, and how well the business had been going. The staff gave two big trays of cupcakes for "the crew" and VPOTUS said she'd be happy to take it for the staff and share with the full pool.

At Midway, VPOTUS participated in a photo line at the terminal, without the pool. VP's office isn't saying who was part of it.

We're now loaded for take off back to DC at 4:15 local time.

From the VP's office:
FFPO/off the record until they run, Vice President Harris participated in three local interviews while in Chicago today. See below for details on the interviews. Timing on when each will run is TBD.

• WMAQ (NBC 5), Mary Ann Bergerson Ahern
• WLS-TV (ABC 7), Craig Wall
• Chicago Defender, Danielle Sanders

VP pool report #4

VPOTUS landed back at AFB just before 7 pm. She was greeted by Lt Col Grant McNelis, 89th Operations Support Squadron/Mission Operations Officer, and gave him a salute. They walked together to Marine 2, for her first flight on the helicopter from Andrews to her new home at the Naval Observatory.

Once on board, she could be spotted chatting briefly with the pilot before taking her seat.

VPOTUS did not take questions from the pool at any of the stops yesterday or today.