NY state 'vaccine czar' probed the loyalty of officials to Cuomo with phone calls

Officials are coming out to complain about phone calls received by them from Larry Schwartz, a top Cuomo official who is in charge of vaccine distribution, probing their loyalty over the past couple of weeks.

Schwartz is known as one of NY State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)'s closest allies and has been an advisor to Cuomo for some time now.  

He is also known as NY State's "vaccine czar", and indeed is running the distribution program for the COVID vaccines, which has not been very successful.

Schwartz also served officially as Cuomo's secretary during the years 2011-2015, and at one point actually lived in his Albany mansion.

According to the Washington Post, at least one county official in the state has filed an ethics complaint with the state Attorney General due to the communications he received from Schwartz. Said the official, who wishes to remain anonymous:

"At best, it was inappropriate. At worst, it was clearly over the ethical line."

The series of calls to county officials comes on the heels of an announcement made on Mar. 8 of the opening of ten new vaccination centers around the state, which are highly desirable to the officials that received the calls.

Said Arthur Caplan, NYU's medical school's Director of Ethics:

"People do not see calls coming from the governor’s mansion as somebody wearing one hat and then putting on another hat. If you are in control of a vital supply of a life-saving resource like vaccines, you are carrying an enormous amount of implicit clout when you ask for political allegiance. And you shouldn’t be doing that anyway. The public health goal to maximize the best use of vaccines has nothing to do with any public declaration of political fealty. And it shouldn’t even be implied or hinted at."