Vice Presidential Pool Reports of June 18, 2021

VP travel pool report 1 - arrival in Atlanta

Greetings from the private terminal of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where it's a very balmy 84 degrees. I'm your pooler for the day.

Air Force Two touched down at 11:01 a.m.

Among the greeters on the tarmac are:
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff
U.S.Sen. Raphael Warnock
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams

I've also spotted White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond.

More to come.

VP travel pool report 2 - Atlanta greeters

Harris descended the steps of Air Force Two at 11:17 am. She gave a big hug to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is clad in hot pink and aviators, who recently announced her retirement.

Harris spent a few minutes talking and cracking jokes with Bottoms, Congresswoman Williams and Sens. Ossoff and Warnock on the tarmac.

She waved to the pool and said it's good to be back in Atlanta before hopping in a waiting Suburban at 11:22 am.

Pool is on the move.

VP travel pool 3 - arrival at Ebenezer

At 11:38 am the pool arrived at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta's historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood for VP Harris' tour of a pop-up vaccination site here. We haven't seen the VP yet but Bottoms, Warnock, Ossoff and Williams all walked by the pool for a private meeting.

Ebenezer Baptist is an iconic landmark in ATL and a pillar in this historically Black neighborhood. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his father previously led this congregation. The current senior pastor is U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock.

Tour participants:

- Dr. Jayne Morgan, Cardiologist and the Executive Director of the COVID Task Force at the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation of Atlanta, GA (Tour Guide)
- Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Sen. Raphael Warnock
- Sen. Jon Ossoff
- Rep. Nikema Williams
- Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor of Atlanta
- Lily Henson, Medical Staff
- Lisa Burke, Medical Staff
- Teri Baker, Medical Staff
- George Mitchell, Vaccine recipient

VP travel pool report 4 - Ebenezer vax event

VP Harris walked into a back room at Ebenezer Baptist at 11:51, along with Sens Warnock, Ossoff and other elected officials.

Dr. Jayne Morgan, Cardiologist and the Executive Director of the COVID Task Force at the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation of Atlanta, introduced Harris to three women sitting behind a vaccination table also from Piedmont healthcare . Harris asked one of the women what she tells people about getting vaccinated.

Pool was escorted out at 11:52 while the conversation was still ongoing. We were then taken to a larger room where about a dozen people were waiting to/ in the process of getting vaccinated. Harris walked in at 11:54 and began speaking to a man getting his first vaccine. "That's wonderful," she said. After he got his shot the room gave him a round of applause.

Harris then spoke to a clinician administrating the shots. "Thank you for doing your work."

She then went to speak to a socially distanced group of a dozen people in blue "Georgia works!" shirts who had just received their vaccinations. Standing in front of a TV screen that says "we can do this," she said:
"What you are doing truly is about leadership. These vaccines are safe and effective. It will save your life and lives of people that you love." …. "We're here to say thank you…. We're here in church, church is always a healing place. It's so appropriate that we're doing this here…. It's also about love thy neighbor, and that's what this vaccine is about….we just need to get the word out. One of the most important ways is friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor… please help us get the word out…
Harris then listed some of the reasons why a person might be vaccine hesitant: child care, fear of needles, etc. and mentioned efforts by the Biden administration and private companies to help address those concerns.
She then wished the group a happy Juneteenth before heading out at 12:03 pm.

Warnock then quipped:
"The Vice President preached a good sermon today. amen!"

Pool is holding at Ebenezer for the next 20 mins.

Fuller quotes coming.

VP travel pool 5 - leaving Ebenezer

Two other previously unannounced VIPs left Ebenezer: former Atlanta Mayor and UN Ambassador Andy and Martin Luther King III, who was there with his daughter.

Mayor Young was tight-lipped about what he told the VP. "I just listened," the civil rights icon told your pooler. He said he's known the VP since she was in California politics. "She's got good instincts," he said

Pool was escorted from the church at 12:33 pm. We're told we're running slightly ahead of schedule. Now headed to Clark Atlanta University for another vax event.

My audio from Ebenezer is shoddy. Will try and get y'all fuller quotes later, but until then please refer to the networks.

VP travel pool 6 - vax event quotes + correction

Pool is not moving. As of 12:58 pm we're still holding in the vans outside Ebenezer - apologies.

Here are some of the remarks VP Harris gave to the dozen or so people who had just gotten their vaccines at Ebenezer:

"When you get the vaccine for yourself that means that you will not possibly pass it on to somebody else in general because you're unlikely to get covid. Isn't that an extension or love thy neighbor?," she said, to which several in the audience responded "amen!"

"We still have so many people who aren't really saying 'I don't want to get it,' but they're just like trying to figure out how to make it work or 'I'm not sure.' So we've got to get the word out and one of the most important ways that we can get the word out is friend to friend. Family member to family member. Neighbor to neighbor. And that's why I wanted to talk to you, to say please help us get the word out."

Her response to people who say the vaccine was developed too quickly: Pointed to CDC Director Walensky, standing nearby, and noted that the vaccine "came about through research that's been going on for over a decade. It didn't just come up overnight."

To people who don't like needles: "well who really likes needles?" she said, prompting laughs from the group. "I know when I got my shot I looked the other way. I didn't want to look at that needle. But it happened just like that and then it's over."

To people worried about childcare or not having enough time: "part of what we've been doing is reaching out to folks like the YMCA and other childcare providers who are saying we'll provide free childcare while people go get the shot."

To people who don't have access to transportation: "well we have rideshare companies that are willing to get people to a vaccination site and get them home for free."

"So help us to get the word out and to let people know that the reasons that it may be difficult, yet another burden on their day, that's real and we respect that and we can find a way to deal with those."

VP travel pool 7 - color and intro speeches from Clark Atlanta

Pool departed Ebenezer Baptist at 1:00 p.m. and arrived at Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU in the Atlanta University Center neighborhood, at 1:08 p.m.

We're in an auditorium with about 300 mostly young people in the crowd.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms just took to the stage in front of a massive "We Can Do This" poster.

"We've come a long way but we've got miles to go," Bottoms said, before discussing how COVID has impacted her friends and families - she herself contracted COVID in July 2020. "Do what you can to make sure progress continues. This really is about life and death," she told the crowd.

Next up was Congresswoman Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, who succeeded the late John Lewis this January. She noted that she also recovered from COVID-19 and that Black and brown communities are disproportionately impacted by COVID.

Then came U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. Here are some snippets: "Now is the time to get vaccinated."
He referenced his and Rev. Warnock's Senate wins in January in reference to COVID relief:
"Thanks to you we were in the position, we had the votes, to make sure this vaccine is free and available to every single American. Thank you, Georgia. But now it's on us as a community, as a united community. Because this last year has been so so difficult and so so painful.... We're so close to victory. But we have to see this through. So urge everybody you know to go and get vaccinated. It's safe and free and available to all."

More TK.

VP travel pool 8 - Warnock intro

Sen. Raphael Warnock took the stage at Clark Atlanta at 1:31 p.m., noting he's a graduate of neigbhoring Morehouse College.

"We're so thrilled to have you back in Georgia, Madam Vice President, with such an important message"
Thanks to Biden and Harris, he said, Georgia has been able to get "millions of shots in arms and begin to turn the corner on this pandemic. The nation owes Georgia quite a bit of credit," he said, referring to his and Ossoff's runoff wins in January, which handed Democrats control of the Senate.

He said that in his role as a pastor, "I stood with families as they wept over the loss of their loves ones, and grieved even more deeply because they couldn't be with them in their last hours."
"There's still work that all of us must do, because when the morning comes you stil lhave to get up, put shoes on and get ready fo rthe morning. So tell everyone you know to get vaccinated... I'm grateful because of this vaccine I was able to visit my 83-year-old mother in Savannah without fear of getting sick."
Notes that Georgia is still behind in its vax rate. "Let's do it, and we'll get through this together."

Grace Hall, a Spelman political science major, took to the stage at 1:37 p.m. and is introducing VP Harris now.

VP travel pool 9 - highlights from Harris speech at Clark ATL

VP Harris took to the stage at 1:39 p.m. to rapturous cheers.

Please check my quotes to the official transcript.

Harris started off by evoking the same "love thy neighbor" sentiment she expressed at Ebenezer.
"We all have the ability, the power, if not the duty, to think about how we can live our lives and do deeds in the course of our life that are about lifting each other up, even if we just met a few seconds ago."

"We have a lot to thank Georgia for, so thank you very much," she told the crowd, another reference to the January runoffs.

Speaking to the HBCU students in attendance: "There's a particular pride that we who have attended, we who have graduated an HBCU have in that shared experience. As HBCU students you know all that you are. You're part of a legacy, part of a history that continues to reveal itself. You are part of a legacy of those who led with purpose, fueled by the important principle of self-determination. Those who fought for progress, who knew their power, that whatever their chosen profession, that they're duty bound to … a life of service, even when faced with incredible adversity. That's who you were born as and continue to be."
"Remember, you are powerful. And we together have the power to end this pandemic."

"When in the face of so much adversity… in particular on the vaccine and covid, let's recognize we have power in every moment of crisis, including this one."

Touted the White House month of action on covid vaccines. In Fulton county, 49% of residents have gotten at least one shot, and in Georgia as a whole only 42%. "We can do better. And we have to address the legitimate barriers that stand in the way of some folks getting the vaccines. We have to be clear-eyed and speak the truth." That's where you students come in, she said, as you canvass in your community.

"We need to meet people where they are. Some folks are working two, three jobs." Noted that there are pharmacies staying open late on Fridays for people who work late.

She also addressed some of the incentives related to childcare, employer benefits, rideshares, that she mentioned at Ebenezer. "There (are) resources available but we need to do a better job of letting people know what's out there… we need to do a better job of letting them know. That's why we need your help, so we can address all those barriers."
"Let's arm ourselves with the truth to arm them with the truth. These vaccines were developed over 10 years by scientists," including one, whose name I missed, who's a Black woman. "They also went through the FDA clinical trials, where they were tested on a whole lot of people. So we can say with confidence that the vaccines are safe, they are free, and they are effective."
"Virtually every person who is in the hospital right now sick with COVID-19… almost every one of those persons is unvaccinated."

"Getting vaccinated is about building the power of community, of our country. We can do this, Georgia. So let us work together and do everything that's within our power to get in front of this thing."

Harris stepped off the stage at 1:57 p.m.

VP travel pool 10 - heading back to airport

The pool departed Clark Atlanta University at 4:32 pm, about an hour ahead of schedule. We're told VP Harris participated in a closed-door discussion on voting rights with community activists.

We're heading back to Hartsfield-Jackson now.

VP travel pool 11 - AF2 departure

The pool arrived at a private terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at around 4:45 p.m.

VP Harris took a photo with the local advance team and then answered a question from the pool about her voting rights meeting. I'll have the transcript in a few minutes, but no news. She emphasized the administration's support of the For the People Act.

She boarded Air Force Two at 4:52 p.m. and the plane took off at 5:04 p.m., about 70 minutes ahead of schedule.