Covid, China and jobs dominate one-off vice presidential debate between Harris and Pence

Washington DC: The much-awaited vice presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence saw the duo sparring on US President Donald Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, jobs, China, racial tensions and climate change, less than four week's ahead of the election.

Harris, the Democratic Party's vice president nominee described the Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as the "greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history" of America as she opened the vice debate with a sharp attack on Vice President Pence, who leads the president's Coronavirus task force.

Wednesday night's live debate at The University of Utah in Salt Lake City was a civil one between the two leaders, separated by plexiglass barriers, compared to last week's showdown between President Trump and his Democratic challenger and former vice president Joe Biden, which degenerated into insults and name-calling.

Pence, did not interrupt as much as Trump last week during the first presidential debate, but when he did Harris interjected: "Mr Vice-President, I'm speaking, I'm speaking."

During the 90-minute one-off debate before the November 3 presidential election, Harris, 55, and Pence, 61, stuck to their known campaign positions on major topics.

Pence, who entered the debate as an underdog, was seen vigorously defending the actions of the Trump Administration during the past nearly four years.

Harris, who scripted yet another history, by becoming the first person of Indian descent to be on the stage of a vice presidential debate, charmed with her smiling face throughout while responding to answers to Pence with facts and figures with the same assertiveness as she started her career as a district attorney in San Francisco.

"This administration has forfeited their right to re-election, she asserted at the start of the debate moderated by journalist Susan Page from USA Today newspaper.