Pfizer announced today that a COVID-19 vaccine trial has proven to be over 90 percent effective preventing the disease among trial volunteers with no signs or symptoms of prior Coronavirus infection. The drug maker is asking the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine after it completes the recommended two months of trials and data analysis.
Pfizer, headquartered in New York City, has been in clinical trials with the vaccine it developed in conjunction with German drugmaker BioNTech.
Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo joined ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ as the new developed, casting a shadow over the worldwide news.
“Well, it’s good news, bad news, George,” Cuomo told host George Stephanoplous. “The good news is the Pfizer tests look good and we’ll have a vaccine shortly. The bad news is that it’s about two months before Joe Biden takes over and that means this administration is going to be implementing a vaccine plan.”
Cuomo said the Trump administration was going to take this vaccine and roll it out through the private sector, hospitals and drug market chains, bypassing communities known as “healthcare desserts.” He says it will be slow.
“We can’t let this vaccination plan go forward the way the Trump administration is designing it because Biden can’t undo it two months later. We’ll be in the midst of it,” Governor Cuomo said, adding, that he is talking to Governors across the nation about how to shape the Trump vaccine plan or stop it.
Mississippi’s Governor Tate Reeves took to Twitter Monday, calling Cuomo’s comments “despicable.”
“This is despicable,” Governor Reeves said. “Playing politics to prevent a life-saving vaccine from being distributed because he’s jealous that the Trump administration got us here. If liberal states stiff-arm a safe vaccine, Mississippi will be first in line to give our citizens the option.”
This is despicable. Playing politics to prevent a life-saving vaccine from being distributed because he’s jealous that the Trump administration got us here. If liberal states stiff-arm a safe vaccine, Mississippi will be first in line to give our citizens the option. https://t.co/5CwujmYVir
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) November 9, 2020
During the race for the White House, President Trump repeatedly said that a vaccine was possible before the end of the year while Democrats consistently pushed back on that claim.
The Biden camp issued a release on the vaccine news, with Biden saying he congratulates the women and men who helped produce this breakthrough, but maintained a tone that seemed to indicate should he be sworn in January 20, 2021 that mask mandates and other actions were still on the table.
“At the same time, it is also important to understand that the end of the battle against COVID-19 is still months away. This news follows a previously announced timeline by industry officials that forecast vaccine approval by late November. Even if that is achieved, and some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.
“This is why the head of the CDC warned this fall that for the foreseeable future, a mask remains a more potent weapon against the virus than the vaccine. Today’s news does not change this urgent reality. Americans will have to rely on masking, distancing, contact tracing, hand washing, and other measures to keep themselves safe well into next year. Today’s news is great news, but it doesn’t change that fact.”
Statement by President-elect Biden on Pfizer's vaccine progress: pic.twitter.com/eOiLZnqO8N
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 9, 2020
Biden said in September that he trusts vaccines but he does not trust Donald Trump, talking about how some doctors have said a mask “is more guaranteed to protect against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.”
Frank Corder
