Daring Trump, Harris’s Campaign Releases Medical Information

Daring Trump, Harris’s Campaign Releases Medical Information

Vice President Kamala Harris released a letter from her doctor saying that she is in “excellent health,” as her campaign tries to capitalize on the lack of health information shared by her rival.

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By Katie RogersReid J. Epstein and Gina Kolata

Vice President Kamala Harris released a letter on Saturday from her White House doctor, who said she is in “excellent health” and is successfully managing some minor health issues.

Ms. Harris, 59, has seasonal allergies, mild nearsightedness and skin hives that she treats with over-the-counter and prescription medication, wrote Joshua R. Simmons, the physician to the vice president.

“Vice President Harris remains in excellent health,” Dr. Simmons wrote in a two-page letter that appeared to be a summary but not a complete medical report. “She possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander in chief.”

Ms. Harris has not had diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis or neurological disorders, Dr. Simmons wrote.

The release of Ms. Harris’s medical information comes as former President Donald J. Trump, her 78-year-old rival, has refused to reveal similar basic health information. Neither candidate for the White House has allowed journalists to ask additional questions of their physicians.

Because presidential candidates are under no requirement to share health records — their medical information is as private as any other citizen’s — campaign-season medical reports are often used to paint the rosiest picture possible of a person running for office. With only weeks until Election Day, Ms. Harris’s campaign will no doubt try to contrast the release of her medical information with Mr. Trump’s refusal to do so and ignite questions about her opponent’s health.

In his letter, which came under White House Military Office letterhead, Dr. Simmons wrote that he has treated Ms. Harris since she became vice president and performed her most recent health exam in April.

He described her as “a healthy 59-year-old female” who suffers from hay fever, allergies triggered by seasonal pollen and skin hives. She takes Allegra, a common medication, along with eye drops and nasal sprays to address both the allergies and the hives, Dr. Simmons wrote, and is not inhibited by her condition, which he described as mild.

The vice president is also slightly nearsighted, Dr. Simmons wrote, and wears contact lenses, though she is able to read comfortably without them. Her vision without contacts is 20/40 in her left eye and 20/25 in her right eye, he wrote. With contacts or glasses, she has 20/20 vision.

The letter reveals for the first time that, as a three-year-old girl, Ms. Harris had her appendix removed as part of procedure to correct for a blockage in her intestine. It was the only surgical procedure she has undergone, Dr. Simmons wrote.

Ms. Harris takes a Vitamin D3 supplement and maintains “a vigorous daily aerobic exercise routine and core strength training,” Dr. Simmons wrote. During an interview this week with Howard Stern, Ms. Harris said she spends 30 to 45 minutes each morning working out on an elliptical machine.

Dr. Simmons described Ms. Harris’s diet as “very healthy,” said she does not “use tobacco products” and said she drinks alcohol “only occasionally and in moderation.”

Mr. Trump, the oldest person to become a presidential nominee, has declined requests to release new information about his health even though he has promised to. When he was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet at a rally over the summer, his campaign did not provide a briefing, release hospital records or make the emergency physicians who treated him available for interviews.

As president, Mr. Trump was hospitalized in 2020 when he contracted Covid-19, and his doctors at the time did not share the full extent of his illness with the public. The limited information about his health contrasts with the picture his former physician shared of him as a candidate in 2015, declaring that he would be “the healthiest person ever elected to the presidency.”

Mr. Trump told CBS News in August that he would “very gladly” release his medical records to the public, but did not respond to a request from The New York Times for that information. The Times also requested Ms. Harris’s health records last month, as well as an interview with her physician. The campaign did not respond.

The sharing of medical records has become a campaign-season cudgel over the past several decades. In the 1996 presidential election, Senator Bob Dole of Kansas successfully pushed his opponent, President Bill Clinton, to release more health information by arguing that he had not shared a full account. But there is a longer history of candidates and presidents hiding illnesses, at least initially, or being selective about what information they share.

In September 2016, Hillary Clinton, then the Democratic nominee, fell ill with pneumonia while campaigning, leading to a raft of questions about her health after her aides initially covered up her illness.

Running against Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump repeatedly brought up her health on the campaign trail, often to suggest that she did not have his stamina. He also did so in the 2020 and 2024 campaigns against President Biden, calling him “sleepy” and acting confused by Mr. Biden’s damaging debate performance in June.

Now he is running against someone who is nearly two decades his junior.

Ms. Harris, for her part, has undergone annual physicals with doctors in the White House Medical Unit, but has not released basic vital information about her health, including her height, weight or lab work, as well as any cancer screenings or mammogram history.