Yahoo Finance How Kamala Harris Spent Her Historic First Full Day as Vice President
ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Vice President Kamala Harris takes the oath of office
Newly sworn-in Vice President Kamala Harris continued receiving congratulations from around the world on Thursday after taking the oath of office the day before and making U.S. history.
With Wednesday's inauguration Harris, 56, simultaneously became the first woman, first Black person and first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
A few hours later, the new vice president and new President Joe Biden began serving out their terms: Biden, 78, signed a stack of executive orders while Harris swore in three new members of the Senate.
In a televised address later in the night, Harris called on Americans to summon "the courage to see beyond crisis" and "to do what is hard, to do what is good, to unite, to believe in ourselves, believe in our country, [and] believe in what we can do together."
On Thursday, both Biden and Harris began their first full days in the White House.
Alex Wong/Getty From left: Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris
Alex Wong/Getty President Joe Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (front) and Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff (back)
In the morning, Harris attended a virtual prayer service with her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. They were joined by Biden and his wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, all of whom sat in chairs while masked and socially distanced, according to photos of the event.
The service was hosted by the Washington National Cathedral and was broadcast to Harris, Emhoff and the Biden family on large television screens in the White House's State Dining Room.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty From left: Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci
Elsewhere during the morning, Harris spoke on the phone with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization. Hours after being sworn in on Wednesday, Biden recommitted the U.S. to the World Health Organization, mending the country's fracture with the group after former President Donald Trump said in May he would withdraw America's affiliation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ghebreyesus said he was "honored" to speak with Harris and thanked the Biden administration for working to repair the U.S.'s commitment to the global health organization.
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Harris and Biden later appeared at the administration's first press briefing on the novel coronavirus alongside the country's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other federal health officials. There, Harris and Biden continued what they have said will be frequent public briefings on the pandemic, which slowed and eventually stopped during the final months of the Trump administration.
The vice president and president then sat down with Fauci, 80, as well as COVID-19 task force coordinator Jeffrey Zients and the deputy coordinator Nancy Quillian.
"We've hit the ground running," Harris tweeted after, from her new @VP account.
On Friday, the new administration is expected to focus on efforts to rebuild the U.S. economy and next week will reportedly introduce new policies surrounding climate change, healthcare, immigration and social equality.
