Governor Hogan Blasts Vaccine Misinformation, Actions of Some Governors To Block Local Mask Mandates
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said he believes the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine will be a boost to Maryland's vaccination numbers.
"It really has been the number one issue for people who are being reluctant because it didn't have the approval and now that takes that argument away," Hogan said.
Maryland recorded 5,257 first-dose vaccinations Monday, the day of the Pfizer announcement, down from 5,400 the prior Monday.
The governor made the comments during a wide-ranging interview Tuesday with CBS This Morning.
This week, the governor wrote President Biden that he wants faster approval for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and said he also spoke to Biden Administration officials about the matter.
"We're hoping we can make progress both on the other approvals, on the boosters and on the approval for younger kids," Hogan told CBS.
The governor also spoke about the negative reaction former President Donald Trump received from a crowd of his supporters when Trump told them during a rally last week that they should get vaccinated.
"It didn't really surprise me because we've seen a lot of this kind of anger and frustration. There's a lot of misinformation out there," Hogan said.
He added that "the disinformation campaign is very prevalent on social media. A lot of people believe very strongly in things that just aren't true. And so it was good that the president said that he got the vaccine but he didn't really push the message as strongly as I would've liked to have seen, and it really didn't surprise me that some of the people reacted that way."
Hogan railed against some fellow Republican governors who will not allow any local mask mandates.
"The Republican governors who are saying they're all about freedom and yet they're taking away the freedom of local school systems—and in some cases businesses—to make those decisions for themselves. We've tried to find the right balance. We've been encouraging mask usage. We've left it up to the duly-elected school boards in our state. That's who has the power to make those decisions," Hogan said. "…To mandate that they have to or mandate that they cannot just doesn't make sense to me. It's a basic conservative Republican principle to let local decision makers make decisions."
