Speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Cuomo said that Americans had become “weak people” in the face of the pandemic and suggested “somebody” or “somebodies” were responsible for making people more skeptical about the vaccine.

CNN host Don Lemon discussed 9/11 as Cuomo handed over to him, describing how he remembers that day every time he passes by the site where the World Trade Center towers stood.

“I still look at the skyline and you know, driving on the BQE, on the FDR, what have you, and I expect to see those buildings around every turn,” Lemon said.

“And it is a reminder every day when you look that way, that it’s not there, but especially today,” he said.

“And it’s also a reminder how much we lost, but a reminder, as well, on how we can come together no matter what as Americans as we did after those horrible attacks.”

Cuomo agreed with Lemon’s sentiment, saying: “Beautifully said, my brother.”

“I have always felt that that’s what ‘Never forget,’ really, is a reminder about,” Cuomo went on. “Not what happened. Obviously, we know what happened, but how we were 9/12, 9/13, 9/14. It wasn’t perfect. We made mistakes. It didn’t last forever. But we put things aside and we came together in common cause with a collective will.

“And you contrast that with where we are today,” Cuomo said. “I’m telling you, this vaccine hesitancy, sure there’s a little bit of a personal freedom thing, people don’t want to be told what to do. Somebody made people think that the vaccine is a personal choice issue.

“Because it doesn’t naturally occur that way, brother. Because we get our kids vaccinated: mumps, rubella, polio, smallpox. We all do it. That’s all this is,” Cuomo said.

“But all of a sudden, it’s a big deal. Somebody put an idea of that in their heads. Or somebodies, a group of people. We are not who we were after 9/11. This pandemic has proven that. We are weak people, and we are making hard times for ourselves,” he said.

Around 80 million Americans have not received the COVID-19 vaccine and President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he had asked the Department of Labor to issue an emergency order requiring businesses with more than 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested on a weekly basis.

Biden also issued two executive orders requiring vaccination against COVID-19 for federal workers and contractors. The president’s new requirements will affect around 100 million people or two-thirds of the U.S. workforce.