REP Ilhan Omar has turned on fellow “squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers who have chosen to get the Covid vaccine before healthcare workers and the elderly.
Ocasio-Cortez, 31, posted a video of herself getting the Covid jab to social media on Sunday, along with a brief explanation of how it works.
Omar called it “disturbing” that fellow members of Congress who are young and are not considered high-risk would get the jab before those who are the most vulnerable.
“It’s now clear that we don’t have enough vaccines for everyone and there is shortage of supply,” the Minnesota representative tweeted on Sunday, along with a clip from a CNN interview she gave on the topic.
“We have to prioritize those who need it most. That’s why it’s disturbing to see members be 1st to get vaccine while most frontline workers, elderly and infirm in our districts, wait.”
Later the same day, Omar responded to a question about why political leaders were getting vaccinated before others who are more vulnerable.
“It would make sense if it was age, but unfortunately it’s of importance and [it’s] shameful,” Omar wrote.
“We are not more important [than] frontline workers, teachers etc. who are making sacrifices everyday. Which is why I won’t take it.
“People who need it most, should get it. Full stop,” she added.
Answering questions on Instagram after getting the vaccine, Ocasio-Cortez said that Congress was getting vaccinated first due to “continuity of governance.”
“I was actually surprised by this too,” AOC said of her early access to the Pfizer vaccine, which was just granted emergency approval by the FDA earlier this month.
“I was expecting that we were going to get it a lot later,” she added.
“…But when it comes to Congress’s access, it’s due to something known as ‘continuity of governance’ planning.
“Basically, there are national security politics on the books to ensure continuity of governance during national emergencies.”
The government plans to plans to deliver 5.9million Moderna shots and two million Pfizer shots this week.
Many expected phase one of the vaccine roll-out in the US – after the approval of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines this month – to go to healthcare workers and the elderly.
AOC has gotten some flack from both ends of the political spectrum over her decision to be one of the first to get a vaccine.
She responded to a tweet from Kentucky Sen Rand Paul who said she and other young, healthy people “should be among the last” to be vaccinated.
“Gee, maybe if the GOP hadn’t spent so much time undermining public faith in science, masks, & COVID itself, I wouldn’t have to weigh the potential misinfo consequences of what wld happen if leaders urged ppl to take a new vaccine that we weren’t taking ourselves,” AOC clapped back.
“…Our job is to make sure the vaccine isn’t politicized the way masks were politicized.”
