CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health,” her doctor, U.S. Army Surgeon General Joshua R. Simmons, said in a letter summarizing her medical history released by the White House on Saturday.

Harris has seasonal allergies and hives and is nearsighted, Simmons’ letter said. Her vaccinations and preventive care recommendations are all up to date, and her most recent physical exam in April and routine blood work revealed no cause for concern.

The vice president wears contact lenses, takes a vitamin D3 supplement and occasionally uses over-the-counter and prescription allergy medications, including Allegra, nasal spray and eye drops, Simmons wrote. Simmons described her diet as “very healthy” and said Harris does not use tobacco products and drinks alcohol “only occasionally and in moderation.”

“She possesses the physical and mental resilience necessary to successfully carry out the duties of the presidency,” Simmons’ letter said.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, said the letter is “most remarkable in some ways” because it shows nothing. “No history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, lung disease, cancer,” Gupta noted, summing it up this way: “Basically he says (Harris) is fit for duty.”

The letter is an attempt to draw a contrast between the 59-year-old Democratic candidate and her 78-year-old Republican rival Donald Trump, who is vying to become the oldest person ever elected to the Oval Office and has published relatively little detailed information about his own medical history.

When 81-year-old President Joe Biden sought re-election, age was a major concern for voters. His exit from the race in July opened the door for Democrats to go on the offensive with a biographical contrast they had previously tried to downplay.

Trump posted a letter from his doctor Bruce Aronwald on social media in November 2023, in which the doctor said Trump’s “general health is excellent.”

“His physical exams were within normal limits and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” Aronwald wrote.

On Saturday, Trump’s campaign pointed to a statement from his personal physician, Bruce Aronwald, last year, as well as a statement from his former White House physician, now Rep. Ronny Jackson, who said he examined Trump after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Trump has not released his actual medical records, and memos about his health have often used hyperbolic language in the past.

“President Trump has voluntarily provided updates from his personal physician as well as detailed reports from Dr. Ronny Jackson, who treated him after the first assassination attempt, released. “Everyone has concluded that he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Saturday.

Harris has never released such detailed information about her medical history before. She said on social media that her late mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris – who died of colon cancer in 2009 – worked as a breast cancer researcher and advocated for breast cancer screening.

Simmons wrote that Harris’ “family history is characterized by a maternal history of colon cancer.” He said Harris’ only surgery was a laparotomy with accidental appendectomy when she was three years old.

This article and headline have been updated with new reports.