Governor Hogan appeared on CBS’ Face The Nation to discuss the “unmitigated disaster” in Afghanistan, his commitment to resettling Afghan allies in Maryland, and why Maryland’s COVID-19 metrics continues to be better than nearly any other state in the nation. Earlier today, the State of Maryland achieved the milestone of vaccinating 80% of adults with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Governor Hogan on Biden’s Afghanistan Debacle: “It’s an unmitigated disaster.”
Governor Hogan on Resettling Afghan Allies: “I was the first governor in America to reach out and say I wanted to take more of these Special Immigrant Visas for the folks who have been our allies that we made a commitment to. We’ve got to stand by them. We’ve got to get our Americans out. We’ve got to get our allies out of there as well.”
Governor Hogan on Maryland’s COVID-19 Metrics: “We have the second lowest case rate and positivity rate in America. We’ve got 80% of our population over 18 that’s been vaccinated. That’s one of the best in the country, which is helping us keep the Delta variant at bay. We’ve got 94% of our vulnerable population [vaccinated], 65 and over…We’re better able to handle the surge than many other places.”
Governor Hogan on President Biden’s Eight-Month Interval For Booster Shots: “We can’t wait that long. We’ve been pushing the federal government for three things. One, we’re pushing to get the final FDA approval, which I think is part of the reluctance on the part of a lot of people. Hopefully that’s going to be coming this week. Two, we’re pushing to speed up that timeframe because we want to start. We’re already preparing in our state to start doing boosters for our nursing home residents and people that are in vulnerable populations. We want to get that final okay from the federal government. And we want to push to get it approved for the younger kids that right now can’t get it.”