Did Vice President Kamala Harris say "virtually every person who has recently died from COVID-19 was vaccinated"? No, that's not true: An edited excerpt from a video of a Harris speech replaces the word "unvaccinated" with the word "vaccinated" multiple times on the audio track. The raw footage and audio of the event, which is crisper because it has not been heavily modified, shows her urging citizens to be vaccinated and reveals the alteration.
The claim appeared in a Bitchute video published on November 4, 2021, titled "THE VACCINATED ARE DYING - THEY ARE TELLING YOU TO YOUR FACE" (archived here). The description underneath the video reads:
THE CULT ARE TELLING YOU THEY ARE MURDERING YOU IN THEIR CONCENTRATION CAMPS (HOSPITALS) FROM THEIR BIO CHEMICAL WEAPON - BE THE RESISTANCE
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
The Vaccinated are dying - They are telling you to your face
THE CULT ARE TELLING YOU THEY ARE MURDERING YOU IN THEIR CONCENTRATION CAMPS (HOSPITALS) FROM THEIR BIO CHEMICAL WEAPON - BE THE RESISTANCE WWW.SAVEUSNOW.ORG.UK
Anyone watching the altered version, which has appeared on other social media including TikTok, can see that the audio and video fall out of sync when the word "unvaccinated" is replaced with "vaccinated."
The event where Harris was recorded was a vaccine mobilization effort on July 12, 2021, at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan, as documented in this official release from the Office of the Vice President. The altered portion is takien from a video of that event. Starting at 45:30 in the nearly 53-minute video of the event, the audio records her stating the impact of COVID-19 and its delta variant. From the transcript:
And, folks, this Delta variant is no joke. Detroit, this -- this, this Delta variant, it spreads faster, and it is in many cases reported to be much more serious in terms of its impact. And the vaccine will protect you from it. And here's how I know: Virtually every person who is in the hospital sick with COVID-19 right now is unvaccinated.
I'm going to repeat that. Virtually -- it's a fact -- paying attention -- (laughter and applause). Virtually every person who is in the hospital right now sick with COVID-19 is unvaccinated.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Wow.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And even more, regrettably, virtually every person who has recently died from COVID-19 was unvaccinated. The loss. The tragedy of that loss. Literally every person who has died from COVID-19 that we have recently been seeing was unvaccinated.
The video continues at 48:28:
So, if you have not yet been vaccinated -- you know, some people said, 'I'm going to wait. I want to wait and see how this all turns out, how everybody else is doing with it' -- right? -- 'so, I'm going to give it -- I'm going to give it six months.' It's July. (Laughter.) It's time. It's time. So, it is time, and it is time to roll up your sleeves and get the shot.
Another version of the pertinent portion from the real video is here.
