Vice President Harris is in ‘excellent health,’ according to detailed letter from her physician
By Eric Bradner, CNN
(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health,” her doctor, US Army physician Joshua R. Simmons, said in a letter summarizing her medical history that was released by the White House on Saturday.
Harris has seasonal allergies and hives and is nearsighted, Simmons’ letter said. Her immunizations and preventive care recommendations are all up to date, and her most recent April physical exam and her routine bloodwork have shown no causes for alarm.
The vice president wears contact lenses, takes a vitamin D3 supplement, and at times uses over-the-counter and prescription allergy medications, including Allegra, nasal spray and eye drops, Simmons wrote. Simmons described her diet as “very healthy,” and said Harris does not use tobacco products and drinks alcohol “only occasionally and in moderation.”
“She possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” Simmons’ letter said.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, said the letter is “most notable in some ways” for what it does not show. “No history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, lung disease, cancer,” Gupta noted, summarizing it as “basically saying (Harris) is fit for duty.”
The letter is an effort to draw a contrast between the 59-year-old Democratic nominee and her 78-year-old Republican rival, Donald Trump, who is vying to become the oldest person ever elected to the Oval Office and has released relatively little detailed information about his own medical history.
Age was a major concern for voters when President Joe Biden, 81, was seeking reelection. His July exit from the race opened the door for Democrats to go on offense on a biographical contrast that they’d previously sought to downplay.
Trump in November 2023 posted on social media a letter from his doctor, Bruce Aronwald, in which the doctor said Trump’s “overall health is excellent.”
“His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” Aronwald wrote.
On Saturday, Trump’s campaign pointed to a statement released by his personal physician, Bruce Aronwald, last year as well as one from his former White House doctor, now Rep. Ronny Jackson, who said he examined Trump after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Trump has not released his actual medical records, and memos about his health in the past have often used hyperbolic language.
“President Trump has voluntarily released updates from his personal physician, as well as detailed reports from Dr. Ronny Jackson who treated him after the first assassination attempt. All have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Saturday.
Harris has never before released this level of detail on her medical history. She has said on social media that her late mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris — who died of colon cancer in 2009 — worked as a breast cancer researcher, and has advocated for breast cancer screening.
Simmons wrote that Harris’ “family history is notable for a maternal history of colon cancer.” He said Harris’ only surgery was a laparotomy with an incidental appendectomy when she was 3 years old.
This story and headline have been updated with new reporting.
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