Harkin: Biden’s comments “unfortunate”

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) spoke with Iowa radio reporters this morning via a telephone conference call.  Listen to Radio Iowa's Matt Kelley ask Harkin about Vice President Joe Biden's comments on The Today Show this morning.  (Biden was asked on Today what advice he'd give his family about the flu outbreak, and Biden said he'd tell them to avoid "confined spaces" like airplanes and subways. "When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft," Biden said.)

Here's what Harkin had to say:  "Well, I think that's a very unfortunate statement by the vice president.  We just don't need that type of misinformation going out.  I wish the vice president had checked with the center for disease control and preparedness before he made that statement….As far as not riding on subways or planes, we're not going to shut down our system and that doesn't get to the nub of the problem anyway, so I think that's very unfortunate that this kind of misinformation got out."

Harkin is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education & Related Agencies.  The panel oversees/drafts spending plans for the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Public Health Service.