Cuomo calls on Biden to take over COVID-19 vaccine plans as U.S. cases soar

Gov. Cuomo Monday called on President-elect Joe Biden to take control of the coronavirus response after news hit that drugmakers believe they have an effective vaccine for COVID-19.

The New York governor said the nation cannot afford to let President Trump continue his botched mismanagement of the pandemic as cases and deaths soar.

“The good news is the vaccine is coming,” Cuomo told ABC’s Good Morning America. “The bad news it’s about 2 months until Joe Biden becomes president.”

Cuomo trashed the Trump plan to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine as fundamentally flawed.

“We can’t let this vaccine plan go forward the way Trump is planning it,” he said. “We need to fix it or stop it before it does damage.”

Given the White House’s haphazard handling of the nation’s largest health crisis in nearly a century, Cuomo said America is reluctant to trust the outgoing president to lead the fight against coronavirus during the transition period.

“When you deny a problem the way Trump did, you can never solve it,” he said. “There was no mobilization of the government and there still isn’t one.”

Biden, who takes office on January 20, plans to address the nation later Monday. The president-elect has named his own coronavirus task force and signaled that he will move ahead with or without Trump’s cooperation.

Trump has dug in his heels and refuses to concede or accept defeat.

The White House said its own coronavirus task force would meet Monday after rarely meeting in recent weeks as Trump sought to minimize the pandemic to help his failed reelection campaign.

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