Andrew Cuomo says it’s ‘bad news’ Covid vaccine came under Trump as he works to ‘stop’ a ‘flawed’ plan & wait for Biden

ANDREW Cuomo has slammed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine progress as “bad news” because the Trump administration will plan the distribution, which the New York governor vowed to block.

In a Monday morning interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Cuomo revealed that he’s spoken with other governor’s about trying to change President Donald Trump‘s rollout plan.

Andrew Cuomo on Monday slammed the coronavirus vaccine progress under President Trump as ‘bad news’Credit: GMA

Cuomo made the remarks after Pfizer announced a breakthrough in its Covid vaccine clinical trialsCredit: AFP – Getty

He insinuated that the group of governors could even try to stop Trump’s plan so that President-elect Joe Biden can distribute the Covid vaccine instead.

“Well, it’s good news, bad news, George,” Cuomo told anchor George Stephanopoulos. 

“The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. The bad news is it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over, and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan.”

He continued: “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.”

The governor slammed Trump’s plan as “flawed” and pointed to the size of the distribution project, which he estimated will involve as many as 330million vaccinations that could require two doses.

That’s more than twice the 120million Covid tests performed in the United States in the last seven months.

Cuomo also claimed that Trump’s rollout could shut out care for “all sorts of communities” who were left out during the early stages of the pandemic.

Cuomo told ABC’s George Stephanopoulous: ‘The bad news is it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over’ Credit: GMA

The New York governor slammed Trump’s vaccine rollout plan as ‘flawed’Credit: GMA

He claimed that Trump’s plan could shut out ‘all sort of communities’ hit hardest by the virusCredit: Reuters

Pfizer announced on Monday that preliminary clinical trials have shown the virus vaccine to be 90% effectiveCredit: AFP or licensors

“And the Trump administration is rolling out the vaccination plan and I believe it’s flawed,” he said.

“I believe 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.”

Stephanopoulos then asked the New York politician what Biden could do that Trump couldn’t, to which Cuomo replied: “The Biden administration — when you deny a problem the way Trump did, you could never solve it.”

“And that’s true in life,” he added.

He then claimed the White House “denied Covid” despite Trump’s coronavirus task force that informed the decision-making process in their “Reopening America” strategy.

Both Trump and Biden hailed Pfizer’s vaccine after the pharmaceutical giant said on Monday its preliminary clinical trials showed it had a better-than-expected 90 percent efficacy.

President-elect Biden said his public health advisers were informed of the Pfizer news last night.

“I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope,” Biden said in a statement.

Cuomo argued that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will do a better job handling vaccine distributionCredit: Reuters

‘When you deny a problem the way Trump did, you could never solve it,’ Cuomo saidCredit: Reuters

Pfizer said on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine will be free for all AmericansCredit: Reuters

Trump tweeted on Monday morning: “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview with CNN’s Dr Sanjay Gupta that the vaccine “will be available for free to all American citizens.”

The Pfizer vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.

The Pfizer vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countriesCredit: Public Domain