NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responded to comments made by President Donald Trump during a Friday news conference about withholding a COVID vaccine from NYS.
Trump said in part Friday:
“As soon as April the vaccine will be available to the entire general population with the exception of places like New York State where for political reasons the governor decided to say….he wants to take his time on the vaccine, he doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from.”
In response to Trump's comments, Cuomo appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer Friday evening and said in part:
"Here are the facts, we trust the drug companies. Pfizer is a great New York company actually, Regeneron is a great New York company. What the American people don't trust is President Trump and every poll has shown Wolf, yours included, that over half the American people are afraid that they politicized the approval process of the vaccine for political reasons during the campaign."
The governor continued on to say a number of states, including New York, have set up a separate scientific panel that will review the FDA's approval of the vaccine to give people confidence in the approval process.
Cuomo said the scientific panel review process would run simultaneously with the FDA approval.
New York Attorney General Letitia James also issued a statement on the matter on Twitter Friday evening:
Any attempt by Donald Trump to deny New York access to a lifesaving #COVID19 vaccine will be met with a lawsuit, plain and simple.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) November 13, 2020
Stop playing politics with people's lives.
