Dr. Anthony Fauci criticized New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday for expressing doubts about the safety of a coronavirus vaccine.
“I can understand, though I don’t agree with their doing that,” Fauci said.
Fauci spoke in an interview with the Washington Post on Monday when asked to respond to Cuomo and Newsom promising to independently verify the safety of the coronavirus vaccine developed under President Donald Trump’s administration, before distributing it.
“I understand what the governors in question, why they want to do that, even though I disagree with it,” Fauci said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the governors were only adding to the “mixed messages” about the vaccine coming from political leaders making more Americans skeptical of taking it.
“It then maybe sheds some doubt on the process that I am extolling now as being a firm process,” he said.
Fauci urged them to move forward with getting the vaccine to their populations as soon as possible, repeating that the development process was sound.
“I don’t fault them for wondering what’s going on but I can tell them if they are listening and I hope they are, that the process really is a sound process,” he said.
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