Andrew Cuomo & Coronavirus Vaccines: Failed Rollout

Andrew Cuomo forced vaccine doses to be thrown away. It can’t be stated often enough or loudly enough: After the miraculous and heroic efforts of great pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines before the first American had even been infected, and after the usual testing and regulatory hurdles consumed nearly eleven months, and after the first New Yorker accepted her jab on December 14 in an event Cuomo celebrated and streamed on his official channel, the governor of New York has been preventing people from getting the vaccine. “Bedlam” and “chaos” are two of the more polite words being used by administrators on the ground as they tiptoe their way through the regulatory minefield Cuomo quickly engineered between health-care professionals and the people of New York.

As the vaccine started being distributed to states, Cuomo continued, utterly predictably, to engage with the catastrophe in his oblivious I’m-the-king style. Micromanaging the vaccine, he issued one diktat after another determining what sorts of people should receive the vaccine first, with a close and obsessive eye on the perceived value of varying groups. He decreed via executive order that million-dollar fines and other penalties would be meted out to those who failed to follow to the letter the Byzantine rules he threw together on the fly and made official policy via executive order. New York City’s comptroller noted on Sunday that the sign-up process involves completing a tricky 51-point survey and uploading an insurance card, two significant barriers to seniors. Would-be users reported spending three hours trying to log on to the state site without getting through. Meanwhile, Israel, whose population is comparable to New York City’s, has vaccinated nearly ten times as many people as Gotham.

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

Featured Tags

Andrew Cuomo forced vaccine doses to be thrown away. It can’t be stated often enough or loudly enough: After the miraculous and heroic efforts of great pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines before the first American had even been infected, and after the usual testing and regulatory hurdles consumed nearly eleven months, and after the first New Yorker accepted her jab on December 14 in an event Cuomo celebrated and streamed on his official channel, the governor of New York has been preventing people from getting the vaccine. “Bedlam” and “chaos” are two of the more polite words being used by administrators on the ground as they tiptoe their way through the regulatory minefield Cuomo quickly engineered between health-care professionals and the people of New York.

As the vaccine started being distributed to states, Cuomo continued, utterly predictably, to engage with the catastrophe in his oblivious I’m-the-king style. Micromanaging the vaccine, he issued one diktat after another determining what sorts of people should receive the vaccine first, with a close and obsessive eye on the perceived value of varying groups. He decreed via executive order that million-dollar fines and other penalties would be meted out to those who failed to follow to the letter the Byzantine rules he threw together on the fly and made official policy via executive order. New York City’s comptroller noted on Sunday that the sign-up process involves completing a tricky 51-point survey and uploading an insurance card, two significant barriers to seniors. Would-be users reported spending three hours trying to log on to the state site without getting through. Meanwhile, Israel, whose population is comparable to New York City’s, has vaccinated nearly ten times as many people as Gotham.