Trump: New York won’t receive COVID-19 vaccine immediately

President Trump said New York won’t be getting the COVID-19 vaccine right away when it becomes available because of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) comments.

During a press conference Friday, his first from the Rose Garden since Joe Biden was named president-elect, Trump responded to the Democratic governor’s previous comments about the administration’s vaccine plan being “flawed.”

Cuomo “will have to let us know when he’s ready for it because otherwise, we can’t be delivering it to a state that won’t be giving it to its people immediately,” Trump said.

“He doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from,” Trump added. “These are coming from the greatest companies anywhere in the world, greatest labs in the world, but he doesn’t trust the fact that it’s this White House, this administration, so we won’t be delivering it to New York until we have authorization to do so, and that pains me to say that.”

Shortly after the president’s remarks, Cuomo denied the claims while appearing on MSNBC.

“None of what the president said is true, surprise, surprise,” Cuomo said, stating that many U.S. citizens fear Trump politicizing the vaccine process. “The American people trust the drug company more than they trust the president.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James also condemned the president’s behavior, calling it “nothing more than vindictive behavior by a lame-duck president trying to extract vengeance on those who oppose his politics.”

“Once there is a fully-developed COVID-19 vaccine, we are confident that a Biden-Harris Administration will provide New York with the proper number of doses so that our state’s residents can achieve immunity,” she said in a statement.

James went on to say that the state would take legal action against Trump if need be.

“If dissemination of the vaccine takes place in the twilight of a Trump Administration and the president wants to play games with people’s lives, we will sue and we will win,” she said.