The day before New York City deputy Mike Lawler took office, the Republican is already targeting Governor Andrew Cuomo for his response to the coronavirus pandemic and current vaccination efforts.
After Cuomo blamed other officials and hospitals for the state’s low distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Lawler said any blame should lie directly with the governor. On December 30, the state reportedly administered less than a third of its vaccines.
NYC CORONAVIRUS ROLLOUT LAGING VACCINE IN spite of CUOMO THREATS
“It’s very simple: @NYGovCuomo asked for and received full control of the pandemic response in March last year, “Lawler tweeted on Tuesday.” He is therefore fully responsible for the consequences of his decisions: deaths in nursing homes and failure to distribute the vaccine.
“The fact that he continues to pass the responsibility on to others, including hospitals, is as shocking as it is arrogant,” he continued.
He then declared that people should wait so long, as Cuomo wrote a book about his response to the pandemic while it was still going on, and sold a poster celebrating his effort.
Cuomo’s office responded against Lawler, while blaming President Trump for the problems of the pandemic itself.
“The elected member of the Assembly must have been very busy tweeting during the orientation of new members, because if he had paid attention, he would have known that any of the governor’s actions during this emergency could be overturned by a simple majority vote in the legislature,” Spokesman Jack Sterne said in a statement to Fox News. “I know it’s easy to take cheap pictures of cheap chairs, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that New York was ambushed by the virus in the spring due to the incompetence of Donald Trump – and while this former political agent whose candidate lost to the Governor has been busy with social media, Governor Cuomo has been on the front lines fighting this pandemic. Despite federal flaws in everything from testing to vaccine distribution, the governor’s actions have unequivocally saved lives. “
The governor also faced criticism from the left in his recent statements. Actress Cynthia Nixon, who challenged Cuomo in the 2018 Democratic primaries, criticized the governor for shifting the blame.
“Typical Cuomo: blaming others for the slow implementation of the vaccine,” she tweeted.
Cuomo was furious over statements he made at a news conference on Monday, during which he addressed the slow vaccination process, blaming and making threats.
“We need civil servants to run these public hospitals,” he said, according to the New York Post, referring to distributors, including New York City’s healthcare system and hospitals. It included visual aids that showed images of leaders like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“I need them to take personal responsibility for their hospitals,” he said. “This is a question of hospital management. They have to move the vaccine and they have to move the vaccine faster ”.
Cuomo threatened hospitals that do not distribute their vaccines quickly enough, warning that they could be fined or prevented from receiving additional vaccine shipments.
“This is pure arrogance,” de Blasio told Errol Louis of NY1, referring to Cuomo’s apparent belief that threats of fines would make things better.
“Does he think our health care professionals are not interested in vaccinating people?” asked the mayor. “How about trusting the people who were our heroes?”
Cuomo’s comments came days after he faced harsh criticism from Rensselaer County executive Steve McLaughlin, who blamed the governor for vaccination problems.
“The state has no idea what it is doing,” said McLaughlin according to the Post. “Cuomo’s handling of the vaccine is open incompetence.”