Washington, Aug 28 (IANS): Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has ripped into President Donald Trump to rebuke the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC), saying it was "designed to soothe his ego".

"The Republican convention is designed for one purpose -- to soothe Donald Trump's ego. To make him feel good. But here's the thing, he's the President of the Us. And it's not supposed to be about him," Harris said in a speech in Washington, D.C on Thursday.

"It's supposed to be about the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people," she said.

"And on that measure, Donald Trump has failed."

Harris railed on Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 5,863,363 million people and killed 180,595, the highest tallies in the world.

"It's relentless. You can't stop it with a tweet. You can't create a distraction and hope it'll go away. It doesn't go away. By its nature, a pandemic is unforgiving.

"If you get it wrong at the beginning, the consequences are catastrophic. It's very hard to catch up... President Trump got it wrong in the beginning," she added.

Harris also addressed the August 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old African-American, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which has triggered consecutive days of protests that have grown chaotic and violent at times.

"The shots fired at Blake pierced the soul of our nation. It's sickening to watch. It's all too familiar. And it must end.

"The reality is that the life of a Black person in America has never been treated as fully human and we have yet to fulfil that promise of equal justice under law," she said.

Harris noted that she and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has spoken with the Blake family, while expressing support for peaceful protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

The remarks came just hours before Trump officially accept the Republican Party's nomination for re-election in a speech from the White House South Lawn.