Here's a look at some of the headlines and reactions from US media.

The New York Times headlined its story with "Virus Takes Centre Stage as Pence and Harris Skirmish in Debate, external." The paper noted things were more civil this time around (including when Pence pointed out the "historic nature" of Harris' nomination). But there were "sharp" exchanges, too. It ruled that Harris had Pence on the defensive with Covid.

The Wall Street Journal similarly had "Pence, Harris Clash on Combating Coronavirus at Vice Presidential Debate, external". The Journal highlighted Harris' attacks on the pandemic as well as Pence's arguments that a Biden-Harris administration would be too liberal.

The Washington Post went with "Pence, Harris trade attacks through plexiglass barriers", and focused on the pair's critiques of each other and Pence's avoidance of questions. Another analysis piece, external up by the Post flagged healthcare as a key issue, noting Pence dodged on the pandemic while Harris laid out a healthcare plan.

And Fox News is calling it "civil but heated, external", highlighting the discussions on the Supreme Court and taxes, as well as Covid-19. Fox also focused on Harris' avoidance of the court-packing question.

As the topic turned to healthcare, Kamala Harris attacked the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle Obamacare, saying it would part millions of Americans from their health insurance. She warned: "If you have a preexisting condition - heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer - they’re coming for you."

Reality Check

During the debate, there were testy exchanges about the future of fracking - the controversial technique used for extracting shale gas from underground.

Vice-President Pence said the Democrats "want to ban fracking, which would cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs".

His opponent replied: "Joe Biden will not end fracking."

Pence then claimed that Harris had "said on multiple occasions, when you were running for president, that you would ban fracking."

So what are the facts?

In August 2020, Biden said "I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again: I am not banning fracking."

However, in March 2020, during a Democratic debate, he said “No more — no new fracking.”

At the time the campaign team clarified Biden’s position: a pledge to ban “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.” They said this would allow existing fracking to continue.

Meanwhile, at a CNN town hall event in September 2019, Harris said: "There’s no question, I’m in favour of banning fracking."

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Vice-presidential debates seldom shake up presidential races, and the face-off between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence on Wednesday night seems destined to be no different.

Both candidates had strong moments, and a few stumbles over the course of the 90-minute affair. But as far as lasting memories go, they were few and far between.

If this was a match that showcased the futures of the Democratic and Republican parties, the real fireworks will have to wait for the coming years.

An unmemorable result, in and of itself, is good news for the Democrats and Joe Biden, who polls suggest are leading in the race.

One more campaign set-piece completed, and one step closer to election day.

Read more from Anthony: Who won the VP debate?

When the subject of US foreign policy towards China came up, Mike Pence said President Trump stood up to Beijing, which "had been taking advantage of America for decades".

He also pledged to "hold China accountable for what they did to America with the coronavirus".

But the message may not have reached audiences in China - as reports suggest Pence's answer was censored on the mainland.

The takes are rolling in now.

According to the Trump campaign, "Vice-President Mike Pence made clear tonight that President Trump is the clear choice to continue to rebuild the American economy".

Marc Short, a campaign spokesman, chatted on a call to reporters to tout their man and rubbish Biden's tax plans, climate change policies, and foreign policy record.

As for Harris - she is "the most liberal member of the US Senate and it showed, as she continued to push Joe Biden to the left."

Meanwhile, the president continued the praise on Twitter, declaring: "Mike Pence WON BIG!"

Sophie Long
BBC News, Salt Lake City

The whole point of these debates is an opportunity for the candidates to speak directly to the American people, and specifically to American voters who are as yet undecided.

Will this debate change anything? We heard from Kamala Harris at the end, an appeal for people to get out and vote.

When you speak to people on the ground in Utah - this is a deeply religious, Republican state - many say they've already made up their minds.

They're really interested to hear more from these candidates, particularly Kamala Harris who they don't know as much about - but will it change the way they vote? Not necessarily.

Both candidates will be wanting to mobilise those people who haven't yet decided - to get them on board, and get them out to vote.

According to a tally by CBS, the BBC's partner in the US, Pence interrupted Harris twice as many times as she did him over the course of their 90 minute debate.

Pence cut into Harris' responses 10 times, but was only interrupted five times by Harris.

Pence spoke for about 38 minutes - some three minutes more than Harris.

There's been a lot of scrutiny of the Supreme Court lately, after Donald Trump nominated conservative Amy Coney Barrett, and Democrats argued the seat should not be filled until after the election.

Mike Pence asks Kamala Harris: If you and Biden win this election, are you going to pack the Supreme Court to get your way?

She swerves on answering the question... Only for Pence to dodge one of his own.

Let's have a look at what some key politicians are saying about tonight's outcome. (Hint - they all say their side won.)

Chairwoman of the Republican Party, Ronna McDaniels - who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week unsurprisingly tweeted: "Pence wins!!" seconds after the debate ended.

Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a member of the so-called 'Squad' of young female Democratic representatives who have clashed with Trump, used a sports metaphor to refer to some of Pence's evasive answers.

New York Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - also a member of the Squad - chided Pence for referring to her only by her nickname AOC.

And Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted a gif of the Chinese leader applauding, claiming that Harris was getting a positive reaction from Beijing.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who debated Pence four years ago as Hillary Clinton's running mate, has also delivered his verdict.

"Tonight, Kamala clearly outlined the evidence on the table showing the Trump administration has utterly failed the American people," he said, adding that he has already cast his ballot for the Biden ticket.

Ritu Prasad
BBC News writer, Fort Myers, Florida

We’ve been asking our readers for their most pressing questions about the US election. Now it’s our turn to respond.

Click here if you want to know more about this project or send in a question of your own.

Joel, 60, from India asks: Is Kamala Harris a Hindu by faith?

This question has spiked (3900% at one point!) on Google since tonight's debate, so let's take a look.

The short answer is Kamala Harris is a practicing Christian. She's a Baptist and was sworn in on the Bible when she took office.

The longer answer is that she comes from an interfaith family.

Her mother was born in India and immigrated to the US. Her father, born in Jamaica, is a Christian. Her family attended a black Baptist church and a Hindu temple.

And now, her own family is interfaith too, as her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

The lasting memories from last week’s presidential debate are probably ones of tone and demeanour - Trump’s constant interruptions and Biden’s flashes of temper. Both vice-presidential candidates clearly had this in mind as they sat down behind their plexiglass-protected tables.

Pence's typically calm and methodicalness served as a steady counterpoint to Trump’s earlier bombast. On the occasions when he did interrupt, however, Harris was ready.

“Mr vice-president, I’m speaking,” she said at one point. “If you don’t mind letting me finish, then we can have a conversation.”

Given the dynamic of the debate – a white man interrupting the first black woman vice-presidential candidate – those were fraught moments for Pence, where the normally placid Mid-westerner risked seeming rude.

Pence had no qualms steamrolling moderator Susan Page – and given that women voters have turned sharply against the Trump-Pence ticket, the extra speaking time he gained may have come at a political price.

Joe Biden is currently leading polls when it comes to the likely outcome of the election.

Asked if we can bank on him winning, Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh tells BBC News: "Donald Trump's in the White House, anything could happen!"

She says we're moving into day 26, "with perhaps two debates left", and it would take something fundamentally dramatic at this point, to stop the race from being a referendum on Donald Trump.

Biden is clearing 50% in most polls - which Marsh points out that neither Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump ever did.

Last week, the biggest takeaway from our voter panel after the presidential debate was that real losers of the debate were the American people. The voters felt dismayed and frustrated by Biden and Trump's onstage fighting and constant interruptions.

Tonight's debate had the exact opposite response from four different members of our voter panel. All voters agreed that Trump and Biden have chosen strong deputies in their vice-presidents.

Here are the moments they say stood out from the debate.

Jim Sullivan, Trump voter: Tonight was a lot more civil and flowed a lot better than the last debate. Seeing a more substantive debate made me feel more positive about the election process that we're in. In the very beginning, Pence's defence of the Trump administration's [response to Covid-19] stood out to me. And the thing Pence said to Kamala Harris about packing the [Supreme] Court. I think that's an important question that I don't think was answered. They took each other on and were assertive but I don't feel like I literally watched a fight like last time.

Akayla Sellers, Biden voter: The moment that stood out to me the most was at the very end with the powerful question from the young eighth grader. The image that's typically shown in American media is of the two sides not agreeing. We need a presidency that exercises compassion and love and strives to have the best humanity for all.

Shloka Ananthanarayanan, Biden voter: I wouldn't say there is one moment that stood out, but what stood out is the tone. No one was yelling at each other during the debate. It ended on a note of civility and both candidates made clear that we can agree to disagree. At the end of the day we're all just still Americans. My ultimate takeaway is that it was a plea for civility. As Kamala Harris said at the end - please vote. We've laid it out here and now you get to make your decision about who you want to lead you for the next four years.

Gordon Kou, undecided voter: Both presidential candidates chose very well in their vice-presidential picks. The overall winner of this debate was America. The part with the fly on Mike Pence's head also stood out. The last question from the young kid was the greatest part of the debate. It reminds me of one of the debates in 2016 when the man asked Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to compliment each other.

Read more about our voters.

Reality Check

One line of attack Harris brought up when it came to the discussion on race was President Trump’s comments following far-right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Violent clashes left one of the counter-protesters dead.

According to a transcript of a press conference, external on 15 August, President Trump did say - when asked about the presence of neo-Nazis at the rally - "you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."

However, at the same press conference, Mr Trump went on to say "I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally."

An unfortunate moment for Pence involving a fly landing on his head has made the biggest splash on social media.

There have already been 423,000 tweets about "the fly", and the Biden campaign is aiming to take advantage.

A post from Joe Biden's Twitter account showing the candidate holding a fly swatter has been liked more than 200,000 times in just over ten minutes - easily the most impactful post on social media relating to the debate.

If you're wondering how they got the picture together so fast, it's not new. The Biden campaign has posted the image a few times over the past year, typically with the caption "Donald Trump's been really bugging me lately".

A key exchange came early in the debate when Mike Pence said he and Donald Trump trust the American people to do what is in the best interests of their health.

Biden and Harris, he said, want a government takeover of healthcare.

Harris hit back, declaring: "Let's talk about respecting the American people... You respect the American people when you tell them the truth."

Zhaoyin Feng
BBC Chinese, Washington DC

One moment that stood out for me was when Harris said Chinese leader Xi Jinping is viewed more positively than President Trump. That’s true, though in fact the world has little faith in either leaders.

According to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research Center, external in 13 countries across four continents, some 78% say they have little or no confidence in Xi to do the right thing regarding world affairs.

People have even less faith in Trump. In Germany, 78% say they have no confidence in the Chinese leader, while 89% say the same of Trump.

Harris and Pence went head-to-head over China, but neither of them answered the question posed to them that will shape the world in the coming decades: Are the US and China competitors, adversaries or enemies?

Who is going to lead the rest of the world?

In the last segment of the debate, the candidates got into a lot of US election rows and topics that can get confusing. We're here for you.

First: Here's our really simple guide. Or, watch this look at how you become President.

You can also watch our breakdown of which voters actually decide the election here.

You can also have a go at the election results yourself, with our election game here.

Want to know when we might actually learn who wins the election? Read our explainer here.

And we've also answered the specific questions that you, our readers, sent in, here.

Still don't see an answer to your queries? Tell us about it here.