White House official slams NY Gov. Cuomo over 'highly irresponsible' comments on COVID vaccine

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WH Communications Director on whether WH has tried to stop Dr. Fauci from TV appearances

White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah says 'we're certainly not trying to stifle' Dr. Anthony Fauci from 'sharing important information with the public.'

White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah ripped New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Monday over what she called “highly irresponsible” comments about a possible coronavirus vaccine.

“Playing politics with a vaccine is extremely dangerous,” Farah told “America’s Newsroom”.

In an interview on ABC News' "Good Morning America" earlier Monday, Cuomo had predicted the American public would be "very skeptical" about taking any vaccine touted by the Trump administration.

“You’re going to say to the American people, ‘Now here’s a vaccine, it was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal administration and their health administration that it’s safe,'" said the governor, who added that his administration would "put together our own group of doctors and medical experts to review the vaccine."

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“Those are highly irresponsible comments to make,” said Farah, who pointed out that Cuomo's comments echoed those made by Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris said during her debate with Vice President Mike Pence earlier this month.

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“The vaccine that comes to market will be both safe and effective and will go through an independent review board,” Farah said. “These are not political appointees who are reviewing this, these are career medical professionals and scientists.”

“And Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who’s the head of Operation Warp Speed, who the president put at the helm of it, has brought dozens of vaccines safely to market,” she continued, adding that “he’s one of the foremost expert experts around the world in this field.”

“So the American people should trust him and they should trust this process and playing politics with a vaccine is extremely dangerous,” she stressed.

Farah was also asked if the White House had tried to limit media appearances by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci, as Fauci himself suggested in a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday. 

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“With any administration figure, whether it’s a cabinet secretary or Dr. Fauci, they will deconflict their segments with the White House so that the president’s message is always leading the day," Farah explained.

“Of course, if the president is appearing live somewhere giving a speech we generally don’t book guests around that.

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“Dr. Fauci has been on an incredible amount of TV,” Farah continued. “It’s hard to turn on the TV and not see him and we’re certainly not trying to stifle him sharing important information with the public.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.