Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call to stop the distribution of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine under President Donald Trump's administration is "absolutely unconscionable," Heath and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday.
"It is absolutely unconscionable somebody would want to delay a vaccine to the American people for partisan reasons," Azar said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The interesting thing is that Operation Warp Speed is working closely with Gov. Cuomo's health commissioner and his team ... his team is working with us to set up a distribution system within their state."
Cuomo earlier Monday said it is "bad news" that distribution of the new vaccine, when it becomes available, could start under Trump, as the president's plan depends more on private distribution rather than through a government effort.
Azar explained that the administration's approach is a public-private partnership and that a one-size-fits-all approach that Cuomo favors, where only the government handles distribution matters, will not work.
"If we relied only on the government to do things, nothing would be getting delivered," said Azar.
Cuomo said he will be speaking with other governors to either fix or stop the Trump administration's plans, but Azar insisted other governors are excited about the vaccine and want to be in charge of its distribution.
"It is a great plan that leverages the finest distribution system in the world to make sure vaccine gets where it needs to go safely and effectively," said Azar, adding that Cuomo should talk to his own staff and "learn what their plans are."
Earlier on Monday, Pfizer announced that its vaccine had reached a 90% effective rate in tests of 94 people who had at least one symptom of the novel coronavirus. Azar called the announcement a "historic day in the history of public health."
The next steps will include Pfizer submitting its data to the Food and Drug Administration for an independent review and authorization, said Azar. The government has a guaranteed receipt of 100 million doses that it already purchased for about $2 billion, with an option for another 500 million more doses.
"Those will start in increments of 20 million doses," with Pfizer saying the supplies will start in late November and continue monthly after that, said Azar.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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