New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he is glad to hear that Pfizer will have its COVID-19 vaccine – proven to be more than 90 percent effective — ready for distribution within just a few more weeks.
But Cuomo told ABC’s “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos on Monday, “The bad news is that it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over, and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan.”
! says it’s “bad news” Pfizer’s Covid vaccine came during the Trump Admin; says he’s going to work w/ other governors to “stop” distribution “before it does damage” pic.twitter.com/ULembNWokW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott)
The governor said, “The Trump Administration is rolling out the vaccination plan and I believe it’s flawed. I believe [the Trump Administration] learns nothing from the past.”
Cuomo claimed his main beef has to do with the way the vaccine is to be distributed – although the brunt of his comments don’t support that excuse.
“They’re going to take this vaccine and they’re going to go through the private mechanism. Through hospitals, through drug market chains, et cetera,” Cuomo said. “That’s going to be slow and that’s going to bypass the communities that we call health care deserts. If you don’t have a Rite Aid or a CVS then you’re in trouble and that’s what happened the first time with COVID.”
It’s not clear what he is talking about when referring to “the first time with COVID” because up to this point there has been no vaccine to fend off the coronavirus. And there are few if any communities in the United States that one can find today that are bereft of a chain store pharmacy, and/or a hospital or HMO clinic. The governor, for instance, failed to mention even one in his own state as an example.
Cuomo also said he has “been talking with other governors to see how we can shape the Trump Administration vaccine distribution plan, or stop it before it does damage.”
It seems that New York’s governor may become just as much of an obstacle to improving the health of the state’s residents as the risk the virus presents. Last month Cuomo claimed he would not trust the national Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and/or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are credible enough to make the call on the safety and efficacy of any COVID-19 vaccine for his state, because they were currently operating under the Trump Administration.
Paranoid much?