AOC hits back at critics who blasted her for getting the COVID-19 vaccine before others

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at Senator Rand Paul after he – and fellow squad member Ilhan Omar – blasted the 31-year-old for getting the COVID-19 vaccine before frontline workers and the elderly.

The Democrat socialist came under fire after she got the first dose of the jab Friday, with many accusing her of jumping the cue ahead of higher-risk Americans.   

AOC defended her decision and slammed the GOP for downplaying the pandemic and undermining ‘public faith in science, masks & COVID itself’, which she said has created a need for lawmakers like herself to get vaccinated to try to build confidence in it. 

‘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 fired back at Paul on Twitter.

She added: ‘& @ me next time.’

In a follow-up tweet, the congresswoman then told the Republican to listen to his constituents and said it was important to ‘show we won’t ask others to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves’.

‘Our job is to make sure the vaccine isn’t politicized the way masks were politicized,’ she wrote.

‘If you actually listened to your constituents, you’d hear a LOT about viral claims about repro health. 

‘Ppl have ?s Leaders shld show we won’t ask others to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves.’

AOC was responding to a tweet from Paul where he singled her out for going ahead of elderly people and healthcare workers.

He insisted he wouldn’t take the vaccine yet because it would be ‘inappropriate’. 

‘I was asked about getting vaccinated with others in Congress: It is inappropriate for me – who has already gotten the virus/has immunity – to get in front of elderly/healthcare workers,’ he tweeted Monday.

‘Same goes for AOC or any young healthy person. They should be among last, not first.’ 

The Kentucky Senator, who contracted COVID-19 in March, had hit out at AOC earlier Monday when speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill as he said he should be among the last to get a vaccine. 

‘I think it would be unconscionable for somebody who’s had it to get in front of somebody who hasn’t had it to take a vaccine,’ Paul said. 

‘I think it’s unconscionable for AOC, who’s 30 years old, to be smiling gleefully and getting the vaccine when you got 85-year-old people in nursing homes who haven’t gotten it.’  

AOC has also come under fire for getting the jab from some of her own. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted Sunday that it was ‘disturbing’ that her fellow lawmakers were able to get vaccinated before frontline workers and the elderly. 

‘It’s now clear that we don’t have enough vaccines for everybody and there is a shortage of supply, we have to prioritize those who need it most,’ Omar tweeted Sunday. 

‘That’s why it’s disturbing to see members be first to get vaccine while most frontline workers, elderly and infirm in our districts, wait.’ 

Omar linked to an interview she did earlier in the month on CNN, when she had argued the same thing when early reports said White House staff would have access to the COVID-19 vaccine before most Americans.  

‘Our frontline workers who’ve made the sacrifice to make the country run should be the priority, people who’ve been disproportionately impacted should be the priority,’ she said then.  

Ocasio-Cortez, who will be the youngest member of Congress until Republican Madison Cawthorn gets sworn-in in January, detailed getting the vaccine on her Instagram story Friday. 

AOC said she found out she and other members of Congress would have access to the vaccine because of the ‘continuity of governance’ plan, ‘basically a national security measure,’ she explained to her Instagram followers. 

She urged her social media followers to send in their questions, writing: ‘Just like wearing a mask, I’d never advise you to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself.’  

She detailed the logistics around getting the vaccine – including a whole post about potential side-effects – before responding to a viewer’s question about why politicians were getting it before some healthcare workers. 

‘I was actually surprised by this too — I was expecting that we were going to get it a lot later,’ she said. 

‘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.’ 

Those in the US government began getting the Pfizer Friday, with Vice President Mike Pence getting the first injection alongside his wife Karen and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. 

Later in the day, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got the vaccine.   

On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the vaccine in Delaware, not long after his wife and soon-to-be First Lady Jill Biden. 

Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio who downplayed the virus and attended Donald Trump’s packed rallies, also went ahead and got the vaccine. 

CNN commentator Ana Navarro-Cardenas lashed out at Rubio for being among those to get vaccinated first.  

‘Young, healthy Senator, who spoke at rallies packed w/thousands w/o masks, who supports Trump -who’s down-played COVID & mocked those who wear masks, is 1st to get vaccine while most medical workers, elderly & infirm Americans, wait, Navarro Cardenas tweeted. 

‘Congratulations on ur privilege, @marcorubio.’    

Donald Trump has not taken the vaccine. The president was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October and, on his release, claimed he was ‘immune’ to the virus. 

However he has not publicly stated why he has not been vaccinated.