New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo skipped 17 consecutive calls with the White House Coronavirus Task Force designed to brief state leaders on the COVID-19 vaccine.
News of the missed meetings came in a New York Post report on Wednesday. The newspaper noted Cuomo stopped taking part in the meetings in June and is now highly critical of the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine plan.
Cuomo has called the vaccine plan “flawed” as news of a Pfizer vaccine breakthrough was announced.
The governor said he has been speaking with other governors to either fix President Donald Trump's plans for private providers to distribute the vaccine or to "stop it before it does damage."
But the Post pointed out that Cuomo also snubbed a one-on-one meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. According to the newspaper’s sources, Azar had wanted to hear the governor’s concerns late last month.
Alexander Cochran, Cuomo’s special counsel, rejected the Oct. 21 invitation to meet the following day, sources told the Post.
Cuomo was asked about the missed task force briefings on WAMC last week.
“They do briefings once a week or something,” he said. “I've also missed circuses. I don't go to a lot of circuses. Between the White House conference call and a circus, I think a circus would teach me more about COVID.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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