Despite some calling it a “historical moment,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) says the announcement from Pfizer — that early data of its vaccine candidate has shown more than 90% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 — is “good news” and “bad news.”
Appearing on “Good Morning America” Monday, Cuomo said, “Well, it’s good news/bad news.”
He continued, “The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. 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.”
The New York governor took aim at the Trump administration’s vaccination plan, calling it “flawed” and that it “learns nothing from the past.”
“They’re basically going to have the private providers do it and that’s going to leave out all sorts of communities that were left out the first time when Covid ravaged them,” he said.
Asked what the Trump administration will not do that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration would, Cuomo responded, “When you deny a problem the way Trump did, you can never solve it and that’s true in life. The Trump Administration denied COVID. So they were never ready for it.”
Watch Cuomo’s interview below:
Cuomo later added:
“You have two months and we can’t let this vaccination plan go forward the way that Trump and his administration is designing it because Biden can’t undo it two months later. We’ll be in the midst of it and…I’ve been talking to governors across the nation about that. How can we shape the Trump Administration vaccine plan to fix it or stop it before it does damage.”
Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in an announcement on Monday morning that the vaccine trial has shown positive efficacy “in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis,” as IJR reported on.
“This means we are one step closer to potentially providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global pandemic,” Bourla said. “This is a first but critical step in our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine.”
Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president and the head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer, told The New York Times, “This is a historical moment.”
Pfizer is working with BioNTech on the potential vaccine.
President Donald Trump called the announcement “GREAT NEWS.” And, Biden congratulated “the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope.”