LEILA FADEL, HOST:
At the Democratic convention last night, Vice President Kamala Harris told the story of her own immigrant family.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Harris called Republican Donald Trump an unserious man who wants to be an autocrat. At the same time, the vice president looked at the camera, spoke to people outside the hall who have differing beliefs and promised to be a president for all.
FADEL: NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram was with Harris last night and joins us now. Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So this was an opportunity for Harris to really define herself for the country and share what her presidency would look like. What stood out to you?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, this was definitely her moment to introduce herself to the country. This has been such an unexpected and truncated run for the presidency.
FADEL: Right.
SHIVARAM: And it's all happening right as a lot of voters still don't really know who Kamala Harris is. And she tried to fix that last night primarily by telling her story through the lens of her parents, who both immigrated to the U.S., and how their dreams led to Harris' own, she says, unlikely journey of running for president.
HARRIS: At the park, my mother would say stay close. But my father would say, as he smiled, run, Kamala, run. Don't be afraid. Don't let anything stop you.
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SHIVARAM: This was such a different speech than I've heard from Harris before in a lot of different ways, Leila, but primarily because, to be honest, she doesn't really often share these personal details about her life.
FADEL: Now, Deepa, you point out this is a truncated campaign, unusual. But one of the criticisms she's faced is that she hasn't been clear on what she would do as president, what her policies would be. What did we learn from her speech?
SHIVARAM: You know, Harris talked a lot about her beliefs on what she called building the opportunity economy. She talked about the border and Israel and Gaza and Ukraine. It wasn't really about nitty-gritty policy, though. It was more of a declaration of values, about protecting American security and democracy abroad, and how her opponent former President Donald Trump stands in contrast to many of her beliefs. And she was also trying to show, you know, that she has the toughness and the experience that it takes to be the commander in chief, which is important because of the unprecedented nature of her candidacy.
FADEL: Had a front row seat in her press pool. What was it like in the room?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, I've seen Kamala Harris give a lot of speeches over the last five years. And this was a really strong performance from her. I was sitting just by the stage behind the delegation from Nebraska, and the whole crowd was just so loud and so amped.
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SHIVARAM: One thing that really stood out to me was how much Harris' message in her speech was about her love of country and the possibilities of America and how that translated in the arena. I mean, there were American flags being waved and more being handed out, people chanting USA.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) USA, USA, USA.
SHIVARAM: It was really a rallying moment for the brand of patriotism Harris is trying to build.
FADEL: So I think the big question is, can she carry that momentum and that excitement into November? How does she do that?
SHIVARAM: I mean, Harris herself, when she rallied with supporters after her speech last night, like, literally said, you can party tonight, but then we get to work. And, you know, the reality is Harris can't keep up the exact hold that she's had on the narrative the last few weeks. She's going to have to adapt and change. The debate, of course, is coming up on September 10, and she has agreed to a sit-down interview before the end of the month.
FADEL: NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Thank you, Deepa.
SHIVARAM: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Now, when you watch the very long roster of speakers at the Democratic convention, you could see the party's effort to bring unity. Different speakers seemed to be aimed at different groups. You could hear remarks from gun violence victims, a border patrol agent. A comedian seemed to speak to Black men. Another speaker seemed to address Southern white males. And there were also the Israeli American parents of a hostage held in Gaza. But when delegates from the uncommitted movement asked for a spot for a Palestinian American, they were denied.
RUWA ROMMAN: Today, I watched my party say our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans, but it can't fit an elected official like me.
FADEL: That was Ruwa Romman - a Georgia State House representative, a Palestinian American and a Democrat - speaking to reporters outside the convention. The uncommitted movement has been pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. She read her speech to reporters outside the convention center yesterday. Here's part of it.
ROMMAN: Our party's greatest strength has always been our ability to unite. Some see that as a weakness, but it's time we flex that strength. Let's commit to each other, to electing Vice President Harris and defeating Donald Trump, who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur.
INSKEEP: Romman also told reporters she wants to work with the party, which is why she said she was confused to be excluded. Now, in her speech, Harris said she was committed to Israel's right to defend itself and also committed to self-determination for Palestinians.
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FADEL: Former President Donald Trump is campaigning in Arizona.
INSKEEP: He illustrated one of his signature campaign promises yesterday standing next to a section of wall along the U.S. southern border in Cochise County. The appearance highlights an issue where Democrats are seen as vulnerable, although Vice President Harris asserted last night that she could secure the border.
FADEL: NPR's Ben Giles followed Trump to the border yesterday and joins us now. Good morning, Ben.
BEN GILES, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK, so we've seen Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Was his latest speech any different from the rest?
GILES: So this was just the latest stop on the Trump-Vance counterprogramming tour. But it did provide Trump a prime opportunity to trot out one of his favorite lines of attack against Harris, what he describes as a wide-open southern border under her watch as vice president.
DONALD TRUMP: I call her comrade because she is a radical left Marxist. She wants open borders. She wants our country - I don't understand why anybody would want it, but she wants our country to be open to the world's criminals, so they can come in and rape and pillage and do whatever they have to do.
GILES: Trump was joined at the border by the usual cast of officials from the Border Patrol Union and the Cochise County Sheriff's Office. But also there were the mothers of children who were killed by suspects who were in the country illegally. Those parents each said they believed Trump and Trump alone could secure the border and prevent immigrants from crossing illegally and committing similar crimes.
FADEL: It's interesting because Kamala Harris yesterday really presented herself as a middle of the road Democrat, promised to secure the border. I mean, how have Democrats in Arizona and nationally been countering this message?
GILES: Well, in addition to that message from Harris in Chicago, Democrats have been relying on Republicans to deliver blistering criticisms of Trump. Last night, for example, former representative Adam Kinzinger was given a prime-time slot where he described Trump as a weak man pretending to be strong on issues of policy and leadership. In Arizona on a Zoom call Wednesday afternoon, Senator Mark Kelly touted the actions taken by the Biden-Harris administration that Democrats credit with a sharp decrease in border crossings.
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MARK KELLY: Obviously, there's more work to be done. But Kamala Harris is clearly the person for this job. And, I mean, I know this, and I imagine many of you know this, that Donald Trump is not the person to solve this problem.
GILES: Kelly criticized Trump for torpedoing GOP support in Congress for a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year. Harris has promised to sign that bill if elected in November. Trump, meanwhile, was dismissive yesterday when I asked about the decline in border crossings and called the border security bill a bad deal.
FADEL: Now, Trump isn't done with Arizona just yet. He'll hold a rally in the Phoenix suburbs at the same arena the Harris campaign rallied a week ago. And we hear there's word of a special guest who'll be in attendance.
GILES: Yeah, Trump wouldn't comment on who that might be at the border yesterday. But media reports suggest Robert F. Kennedy, who's been running a long shot presidential campaign as an independent, is going to drop out of the race and endorse Trump. NPR has confirmed Kennedy filed paperwork necessary to withdraw his name from Arizona's presidential ballot. It's also noteworthy that Kennedy has his own press conference scheduled in Phoenix later today. He says he'll discuss his path forward in the presidential race. If Kennedy does bow out, it's not a given that his supporters will back Trump. But according to an NPR analysis of swing state polls, Trump stands to gain an average of about one point in each of those states.
FADEL: That's NPR's Ben Giles. Thanks, Ben.
GILES: Thank you.
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FADEL: The Food and Drug Administration has approved new COVID-19 vaccines.
INSKEEP: To help protect against the latest strains of the virus.
FADEL: NPR health correspondent Rob Stein joins us now with the details. Good morning, Rob.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So what are these new vaccines?
STEIN: The new vaccines have been reformulated to try to keep the shots up to date with the virus, which is still evolving new tricks to evade our immune systems. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines target the KP.2 variant. The Novavax vaccine, which is expected to get the FDA stamp of approval later, targets an earlier strain called JN.1. Both strains have already been overtaken by newer variants, but the hope is they're close enough to protect people through the rest of the surprisingly big summer wave and through the expected winter surge. Here's Dr. Peter Marks from the FDA.
PETER MARKS: The new formulations cover the variants that have been circulating more recently. So the hope is that the closer we match the strain, the better the protection one will have and perhaps the longer protection we'll have.
STEIN: Marks says the new vaccine should cut the risk of getting COVID by 60% to 70% and reduce the risk of getting seriously ill by 80% to 90%. The shots could start to become available as soon as this weekend to anyone age six months and older.
FADEL: OK, as soon as this weekend. So should everyone just rush out and get vaccinated right away?
STEIN: Good question. Marks says that wouldn't be a bad idea, especially given how big this summer wave turned out to be and how long it's continuing.
MARKS: Right now we're in a wave, so you'd like to get protection against what's going on right now. So I would probably get vaccinated in as timely a manner as possible because right now, the match is reasonably close. You're probably going to get the most benefit you're going to get from this vaccine against what's currently circulating. And so when this gets into pharmacies, I will be online as soon as it rolls out.
STEIN: People should wait at least two or three months since their last bout of COVID or last shot to get vaccinated, and some people could consider waiting until September or, you know, October if they're especially concerned about maximizing protection through the winter surge over the holidays. Here's Dr. Marks again.
MARKS: Getting vaccinated sometime in the September to early October time frame seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to help bring you protection through the December-January time frame. And it doesn't, like, suddenly stop. This is not something that suddenly cuts off at three or four months. It's just the immunity will decrease with time.
STEIN: Now, I should mention that some vaccine experts question whether everyone needs another shot.
FADEL: Oh. Why is that?
STEIN: Well, Dr. Paul Offit at the University of Pennsylvania says most healthy younger people still probably have enough immunity from all the shots and infections they've already gotten to protect them from getting really sick.
PAUL OFFIT: It certainly makes sense why someone would want to get it, because it lessens your chance of getting a mild or moderate infection for about four to six months, and to some extent lessens your chance spreading the virus. But were I a 35-year-old healthy adult who'd already had several doses of vaccine and one or two natural infections, I wouldn't feel compelled to get it.
STEIN: It's unclear how many people will feel compelled to get one of the new shots. Most eligible adults never got the last one. But anyone who does can get the flu shot at the same time. And federal officials are recommending anyone aged 75 and older also get the new RSV vaccine, same goes for pregnant people and those 65 to 74 at high risk of getting seriously ill from RSV.
FADEL: That's NPR health correspondent Rob Stein. Thanks, Rob.
STEIN: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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