biden harris
© AP Photo/Alex Brandon, FilePresident Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk along the White House colonnade as they arrive to speak in the Rose Garden in Washington.
President Biden on Thursday called his vice president, Kamala Harris, "President Harris" while celebrating the US nearing administration of 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Biden said, "Now when President Harris and I took a virtual tour of a vaccination center in Arizona not long ago, one of the nurses on that, on that tour injecting people, giving vaccinations, said that each shot was like administering a dose of hope."

Harris joined Biden for his remarks at the White House, but her reaction to the slip was not recorded in the official video feed.

It's not the first time Biden has given Harris an oral promotion.


In December, Biden referred to Harris as the president-elect while discussing how they publicly received COVID-19 vaccine shots.

"I took it to instill public confidence in the vaccine. President-elect Harris took hers today for the same reason," Biden said at the time.


During the presidential campaign last year, President Donald Trump frequently accused Biden of being in mental decline and claimed Democrats would invoke the 25th Amendment to replace Biden with Harris.

At a White House event this month, Biden appeared to forget the name of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, referring to him as "the guy who runs that outfit over there."


Biden will conduct his first White House press conference next Thursday after gripes that he had broken a more than 100-year record for the length of time without one as a new president.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk along the White House colonnade as they arrive to speak in the Rose Garden in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

At the Thursday event celebrating vaccination progress, Biden repeated his suggestion that people can host "small" Fourth of July backyard gatherings — while also repeating that there will be enough vaccine supply for all adults in May.

"If we keep our guard up, stick together and stick with the science, we can look forward to a Fourth of July that feels a bit more normal, with small groups able to gather for cookouts in backyards," Biden said.

Some medical experts and Republicans have ridiculed Biden's mention of "small" gatherings by July 4 as out of touch.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday said Biden "may need to get out more" to see that due to lower outdoor risk, "Americans are already getting together in small groups outdoors in blue states and red states, in small towns and big cities."

Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Tuesday it's "entirely conceivable and possible" that people could gather in large groups on the Fourth of July.