At a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic on January 29, 2021, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo referred to "the experts in quotes" while doing air quotes with his hands. He subsequently said "when I say experts in quotes, it sounds like i'm saying I don't really trust the experts. Because I don't. Because I don't."
Subsequently, on February 1, 2021, the New York Times reported that Governor Cuomo's administration had sought to exclude public health experts from planning for the COVID-19 pandemic and associated vaccine roll-out. The report indicates that Governor Cuomo "believed he had no choice but to seize more control over pandemic policy from state and local public health officials, who he said had no understanding of how to conduct a real-world, large-operation like vaccinations." It refers to state health officials who said "they often found out about major changes in pandemic policy only after Mr. Cuomo announced them at news conferences -- and then asked them to match their health guidance to the announcements."