ALBANI – With the first Republican debate in the governor’s race scheduled for Monday night on WCBS-TV, the roster of personal candidates has dwindled by one as Andrew Giuliani – proudly unvaccinated against the coronavirus – announced on Sunday that he will not be may attend.
Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Sunday that he was told late last week that the station would not allow him into the studio unless he sent proof of his vaccination status — something he did. said he wouldn’t do it and suggested it could be unconstitutional.
“I chose very clearly not to get the injection,” said Mr. Giuliani, 36, in an impromptu press conference on Sunday outside CBS headquarters in Manhattan, saying he had “reviewed the vaccine data” and decided against it.
According to a DailyExpertNews database, 91 percent of New Yorkers of all ages received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, and 78 percent of residents were fully vaccinated.
Mr Giuliani prefaced his press conference with: releasing a letter he sent to WCBS, the CBS network’s flagship, arguing that their policies were “arbitrary” and “serve to discriminate against a political candidate and their access to equal opportunity and religious freedom.”
In a statement, WCBS said the staffing center requires visitors to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and the policy — which dates back to last year — was created “in consultation with health care experts, government officials and the many unions representing our workers. †
“Any candidate who does not meet this requirement is encouraged to participate remotely in Monday’s debate,” the station said, adding that it hoped the debate “would allow Republican candidates to voice their opinion on matters that are important to the residents of New York State.”
The debate is scheduled to feature other Republican candidates for governor, including Representative Lee M. Zeldin, the party’s anointed candidate; Rob Astorino, the former Westchester County director; and Harry Wilson, a business change expert.
At Sunday’s press conference, Mr Giuliani said he had “natural immunity” to Covid-19, which has killed more than a million Americans, and had offered to take multiple tests to prove he was not infected, but that he nevertheless barred from the debate.
Instead, Mr Giuliani said he would in fact participate virtually, a prospect that was criticized almost immediately by Mr Zeldin, who tweeted that “the remote option is a nonstarter,” while adding, “the reason for having it virtual is ridiculous.”
mr. Astorino echoed this, saying that “all four candidates should be on the podium” and that “discriminatory and unscientific vaccine mandates” would not prevent transmission of the disease. (The vaccines have been proven to prevent most severe cases of the disease.)
Mr Giuliani, who is running for public office for the first time and regularly campaigns with his father, has argued that candidates should debate nearly every day before the June 28 primaries, while also opposing mandates for medical workers and others, something he repeated on Sunday.
“I see clear consequences in what I believe to be my considered decision on this,” he said, adding that if elected, he “will throw all these mandates into the dustbin of history.”
