Kamala Harris has had a check-up – and her doctors confirm her excellent health. In doing so, she is putting pressure on Donald Trump.
Donald Trump had repeatedly made fun of Joe Biden’s health and explained how in great shape he was. Now Biden is out of the race, and Trump’s opponent has now published her health check.
Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris is in “excellent” health, according to her doctor. The vice president’s office released a brief report from her doctor, Joshua Simmons. In it he lists the results of various examinations during Harris’ most recent health check in April, as well as details of the 59-year-old’s medical history.
The doctor’s report is significantly shorter than that of her boss, US President Joe Biden, who has made headlines in recent years with long lists of age-related complaints.
It is a peculiarity of US politics that presidents regularly disclose their health status. This is not legally required, but it has become a kind of ritual that no incumbent can avoid. It is also standard practice for presidential candidates to provide insight into their health.
Simmons writes of Harris that she has the mental and physical toughness to carry out all the duties of president. Their tests did not reveal any abnormalities. Harris has suffered from allergies and rashes in the past. However, this has improved significantly with the help of treatments. Harris is somewhat nearsighted and therefore wears contact lenses. Her only operation to date was an operation on the appendix when she was three years old. She exercises daily, eats healthily, doesn’t smoke and only drinks alcohol in moderation.
These medical reports looked different for Biden, who withdrew from the election campaign in the summer under pressure from his party and made room for Harris. Various minor ailments were always listed there, including unflattering things such as general “wear and tear”, a “stiff gait”, hip problems and the use of a breathing mask to sleep. Biden was the oldest president ever to move into the White House. He ended his re-election campaign because many party colleagues doubted his mental and physical fitness.
Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, is 78 years old and therefore also faces questions about his fitness. However, Trump has not yet published a detailed health check during the election campaign.
Donald Trump’s campaign said after Harris’ publication that he had already released updated information from his personal doctor and the doctor who treated him after the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the summer, the BBC reports. “Everyone has concluded that he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief,” says the campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung. Cheung cited a November 2023 medical letter that said Trump’s “physical exams were within normal limits and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”