Does Andrew Cuomo listen to Andrew Cuomo?
Tone-deaf.
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Is there a worse governor than Andrew Cuomo in all of the United States?
There is not.
The New York governor on Wednesday announced that his administration plans to launch an initiative to counteract coronavirus vaccine skeptics.
“We're going to have to have a real public education campaign to battle [COVID-19 vaccine] skepticism,” Cuomo announced during a press conference. “Just think of the math on this. You have to get to 75% to 85% of the overall population vaccinated for the vaccine to be effective. ... Fifty percent of the population says right now they don’t want to take the vaccine. They don’t trust the approval process, they’re worried about vaccines in general, but 50% are now saying they don’t want to take the vaccine.”
“You cannot get to 75% if 50% percent don’t take it,” the governor added. “So, we need a real public education to dispel the skepticism that already exists.”
That is you, governor! You are the vaccine skeptic! Cuomo has done more than anyone else to undermine confidence in the coronavirus vaccines!
In November, the governor said the "Big Pharma"-produced vaccines would likely be approved “on an expeditious basis under this president, if not a reckless basis.”
That same month, the governor also said in reference to the disparities in the infections and mortality rates that we can’t “let this vaccination plan go forward the way the Trump administration is designing it."
Earlier, during an interview in October with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, Cuomo said specifically that the public should be skeptical of any coronavirus vaccine.
“You are going to say to the American people now, ‘Here’s a vaccine. It was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal administration, their health administration, that it’s safe, and we’re not 100% sure of the consequences,’” said the governor.
He added, “I think it’s going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be.”
Cuomo stated plainly that the public will need assurances from health officials and researchers “other than this FDA and this CDC" to have faith that the vaccines are safe.
The New York governor said elsewhere on CNN that any forthcoming vaccine should be viewed with skepticism given that the Trump administration has supposedly politicized federal health services.
"To the extent there is skepticism about Trump and distrust of Trump and a belief that Trump politicized the public health process,” Cuomo said, “which he did, that he politicized the NIH and the CDC and the FDA, which he did, and that spills over to the vaccine, these separate panels that states will have, will give those states confidence.”
Earlier, on Sept. 24, he also said that the “federal government's response to COVID and the White House's dispute with the FDA raises serious questions about whether or not the vaccine has become politicized.”
"Frankly,” he added, “I'm not going to trust the federal government's opinion, and I wouldn't recommend to New Yorkers based on the federal government's opinion.”
Cuomo said elsewhere that same month on MSNBC, “I don't trust the FDA,” adding later that "the American people don’t trust the FDA. They shouldn’t. Trump has politicized this entire situation. He’s overridden health and science with politics.“
The FDA, he said, "have lied about COVID from day one."
Maybe what New Yorkers really need right now is a public education campaign to battle Andrew Cuomo.