Vice President Kamala Harris made her second stop on the administration’s nationwide vaccination tour in Atlanta Friday, with about two weeks to go until July 4 — the day that President Joe Biden aims to have 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated.

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris made her second stop on the administration’s nationwide vaccination tour in Atlanta Friday, where she visited a church and historically Black university

  • The vice president painted vaccines as a way to empower and aid one's community, equating getting the shot with the biblical advice to 'love thy neighbor'

  • Southern states, including Georgia, have lagged behind in vaccinations, and the administration's tour is an effort to boost vaccinations ahead of the president's July 4 goal of getting 70% of adults partially vaccinated

  • Harris pointed Friday to the ways the administration was trying to make vaccination easier, including free ride shares, child care and later pharmacy hours

Harris first visited a vaccination site inside Ebenezer Baptist Church, where she spoke to people getting the Johnson & Johnson shot and was joined by the church’s senior pastor, Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., a role held by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until his death in 1968.

She called the shot a chance to build the “power of community” and help those in your family and your neighborhood.

“When you get the vaccine for yourself, that means that you will not possibly pass [COVID] on to somebody else,” Harris told the crowd at Ebenezer. “Isn't that an extension of ‘love thy neighbor’?”

The trip is part of a national “month of action” from the Biden administration, which included visits throughout the southern U.S. this week from Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and cabinet members and is expected to soon include the First Lady as well.

Southern states have lagged in vaccination rates compared to the northeast. In Georgia, 53% of adults have gotten at least one dose, while states like New York hit the 70% threshold this week.

On Friday, Harris was also joined on the tour by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, Georgia’s other senator Jon Ossoff, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga.

“Let's recognize that we have power in every moment of crisis, including this one,” the vice president said at Clark Atlanta University, where she spoke to students and leaders from historically Black colleges.

“When the American people come together in the spirit of community, we can do anything,” she added. 

Harris pointed to the milestone President Biden would highlight in a speech later Friday: 300 million shots given in the administration’s first 150 days, far past the original goal of 100 million in the first 100 days.

But though shots have increased and led to lower COVID-19 case numbers, deaths and hospitalizations, vaccinations have also slowed in recent weeks.

The U.S. is averaging about 1 million vaccine doses per day, a significant drop from the height of daily vaccinations in mid-April, with more than 3.3 million jabs.

On Friday, the vice president outlined the administration’s recent efforts to boost that number once again: free rides with Lyft and Uber, later pharmacy hours and free child care for people to get the shot.

“We need to do a better job of letting people know what's out there to help them,” she said. “So that's where we're here to ask for your help.”

Vice President Harris painted the vaccine as a way to build power in communities as they work together to end the pandemic. More than 21,000 people in Georgia have died from the coronavirus, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We can do this, Georgia. I know we can do this,” she said, speaking on the observation day of Juneteenth, the new federal holiday signed into law by President Biden Thursday afternoon.

“Today it’s Juneteenth, it’s freedom day,” Senator and Reverend Raphael Warnock told Georgians earlier Friday. “This campaign is about freedom.”