How 1 governor says Biden's vaccine rollout compares to Trump's
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says vaccine distribution has been "steadier" under the Biden administration than it was under President Donald Trump.
"It was brand new and they [Trump administration] didn't have much experience to work off of," Lamont said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "But they said, 'Hey, you're going to have 20 million doses, governors, by the end of the year,' and those types of numbers leak out. Then you get 3 million. That creates a little consternation."
Lamont, a Democrat, recalled the moment his state received a pleasant surprise of 50,000 extra doses in January because of its efficiency in distributing the vaccine.
"Believe me, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth," said Lamont. "We were very flattered to get that, but it was a little herky jerky in terms of the flow of vaccines."
The governor stressed how valuable it is for states to know how many doses it can expect to receive in the days and weeks ahead.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden slammed his predecessor saying Trump "did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans."
"Now it's a steadier, slightly increasing," said Lamont. "We're making progress."
Still, Lamont – who serves as co-chair of the National Governors Association's Pandemic and Disaster Response Task Force – says there are ways the process could be improved. He thinks it would be helpful to route the vaccines predominantly through governors' offices, noting vaccines now might be sent to state health departments, pharmacies or federally qualified health centers.
"These are all silos that don't talk to each other," said Lamont. "I would urge, work through the governors for that last mile."
The governor said states could also use more guidance on essential populations, to determine eligibility for the vaccine.
"There's just a lot of confusion," he said. "Is a restaurant worker less essential than a teacher, who's less essential than a daycare worker?"
Biden met with a bipartisan group of governors and mayors at the White House on Friday to talk about what states and localities need from the next COVID-19 relief package.
Lamont wasn't in the meeting, but told Yahoo Finance he'd like to see more flexibility in the next stimulus bill.
"You've got governors across the country in red states and blue states who have been hit by, in some cases, a dramatic loss of revenue," said Lamont. "Give us some money over the next two years, just so we don't have to lay people off in the middle of a recession. That would be terrible for our economic recovery as a country."
Jessica Smith is chief political correspondent for Yahoo Finance, based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.
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