Joshua Roberts via Getty Images
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CORONAVIRUS – Until January 20, he is still the president, and he intends to show it. Friday, November 13, Donald Trump spoke to the press to give a rave review on the search for a vaccine against covid-19, and more generally its management of the epidemic (which nearly 250,000 dead in the USA).
“The cases are numerous, but it’s only because we have the best screening program in the world,” said Donald Trump, for example, as the country approaches the eleven million cases detected. Above all, the outgoing president rejoiced of Pfizer’s progress concerning a future vaccine against the coronavirus.
“Millions of doses will be distributed very soon. We are all ready, we are just waiting for the final approval. As soon as it is good, the vaccine will be available to the entire population, ”said Donald Trump, referring to the month of April as the envisaged deadline, he who had repeatedly promised that it would be available before the end of 2020.
Everyone … except New York State
Except that Donald Trump was not actually talking about the whole country as he immediately clarified: “All the population except for a few places such as New York State where, for political reasons, the governor has decided that he wanted to take his time with the vaccine, that he did not have complete confidence in the source of the vaccine, and especially not in this presidency and this government. ”
“I think it’s a very bad decision from a health point of view,” continued Donald Trump, again lambasting the management of Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic governor of the state. “It will have to tell us when it is ready, but we cannot give it to a state that will not immediately distribute it to the people.”
Referring without further details to press articles that would be extremely harsh on New York’s management of the epidemic, President Trump, a former New York resident before moving to Florida, concluded: “In short, we will only deliver this vaccine to New York when we have permission to do so, and it is very painful for me to accept. ”
Several states fear White House rush
“Nothing that Donald Trump said is true … Surprise!”, Andrew Cuomo immediately retorted at MSNBC’s microphone. Indeed, faced with the ineffective and hasty national response of the presidential team to counter the pandemic, the New York administration has indicated that it would have the vaccine approved a second time before starting its distribution. And that she would try to come to the aid of the communities hardest hit by the virus, which significantly displeased the president.
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Other states like California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada have followed suit, fearing the White House has sped up the process of validating the vaccine for the presidential election.
Recalling that the State of New York is conducting an investigation for tax evasion against Donald Trump and that the State has overwhelmingly voted against the outgoing president during the presidential election, Governor Cuomo further assured to MSNBC that: “Donald Trump has a grudge against New York and he loves to point fingers at us.”
A “politicized” epidemic
Except that in the case of the coronavirus, it is not New York that has a problem, but the president, added Andrew Cuomo, fearing that the “politicization” of the epidemic will make it even more dangerous for the American people. . The President-elect Joe Biden has also made an exit going in the same direction, deploring its own powerlessness in the face of an accelerating epidemic and a national response which “is sadly lacking”.
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I am the president-elect, but will not be president until next year. COVID-19 does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now. Urgent action is needed today, now, by the current administration.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 14, 2020
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“I won’t be president until next year. But covid-19 isn’t following any timeline, and it’s accelerating right now. Urgent action must be taken now, and that it be the administration still in place that does it … ”, added the former vice-president in a tweet.
This is why New York State does not intend to allow itself to face the media and political maneuvers of the outgoing president. The State Attorney General has also assured that he would file a complaint if Donald Trump implemented his threats and that he did not actually distribute the vaccine to the whole country.
By Donald Trump’s own admission this Friday, however, the distribution of the vaccine should not be possible before spring. And at that point, it won’t normally be the same man who will sit in the White House.
See also on the HuffPost: For Biden, Trump’s failure in the face of the Covid pandemic “totally disqualifies him”
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