Alabama governor on rising COVID-19 cases: ‘Time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks’

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) declared that it’s “time to start blaming the unvaccinated” for the surge in coronavirus infections in her state.

The governor, visibly exasperated while discussing the need to get a COVID-19 vaccination shot, was asked by local reporters Thursday what more can be done to boost vaccination rates.

“I don’t know, you tell me!” Ivey said. “Folks supposed to have common sense.”

“But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she continued.

Asked what it will take to up the vaccination rate in Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) snaps: “I don’t know, you tell me! Folks supposed to have common sense. It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks.”

(For more context, Ivey signed a ban on vaccine passports back in May.) pic.twitter.com/ZUMVDm4QHi

— The Recount (@therecount) July 23, 2021

Ivey’s comments come as her state grapples with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

Only 48.7 percent of the population age 12 and up has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 39.6 percent have been fully inoculated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 6,118 vaccine doses administered in Alabama on Wednesday, according to state data, a considerable drop from the more than 45,000 administered at the peak in April.

Ivey was vaccinated in December.

The state has seen a 70 percent increase in daily coronavirus infections over the past week and its highest hospitalization rate, according to The Washington Post.

Ivey said it should be “crystal clear” that the new cases and hospitalizations are being reported among unvaccinated.

“These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle and self-inflicted pain,” Ivey told reporters. “You know we’ve got to get folks to take the shot. The vaccine is the greatest weapon we have to fight COVID, there’s not question about that, the data proves it.”

When asked if she felt it was her responsibility to improve the situation, Ivey said she’s done “all I know how to do.”

“I’ve done all I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself,” Ivey said.