Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who takes zero responsibility for packing nursing homes with coronavirus-infected patients, says he doesn't trust the federal government when it comes to a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus.
"Frankly, 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 told reporters on Thursday about the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) potential approval of a coronavirus vaccine.
"New York State will have its own review when the federal government is finished with their review and says it's safe," vowed the governor.
Of course, New York officials don't play any role when it comes to approving vaccines for any kind of drug or treatment, as The New York Times points out.
The Trump administration has been working with drugmakers to fast-track the development and approval of a vaccine for the coronavirus. The administration has given $200 million to all 50 states in an effort to distribute a lifesaving vaccine as soon as one receives emergency-use authorization from the FDA.
On Wednesday, the president announced that Johnson & Johnson's vaccine candidate has entered the third and final stage of clinical trials. It's the fourth vaccine candidate developed in the United States to reach the final stage of testing.
The Trump administration awarded Johnson & Johnson $456 million to produce the vaccine using a method that has been used to produce vaccines for other viruses, such as the Ebola virus. The U.S. has agreed to pay $1 billion for 100 million doses of the vaccine if the drug receives approval from the FDA. Johnson and Johnson expects its COVID-19 vaccine to be available for emergency use authorization on a not-for-profit basis starting in early 2021.
But it sounds like Gov. Cuomo will prevent New Yorkers from taking an FDA-approved vaccine until his own taskforce takes time to review it. Putting politics before lives is nothing new for the governor.