By Josh Plank, World Israel News -
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) criticized fellow “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other lawmakers on Sunday who received the new coronavirus vaccine ahead of frontline workers and the elderly.
Ocasio-Cortez defended her actions Monday, tweeting, “Our job is to make sure the vaccine isn’t politicized the way masks were politicized.”
“Leaders should show we won’t ask others to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves,” she said.
Responding on Sunday to a question of whether politicians are getting the vaccine ahead of others because of their age or their importance, Omar tweeted, “It would makes sense if it was age, but unfortunately it’s of importance and its shameful.”
“We are not more important than frontline workers, teachers etc. who are making sacrifices every day. Which is why I won’t take it. People who need it most should get it. Full stop,” she said.
“It’s now clear that we don’t have enough vaccines for everyone and there is shortage of supply, we have to prioritize those who need it most,” Omar said in a separate tweet.
“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,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez shared a video on Instagram Friday night of herself getting the vaccine.
“I’d *never* ask you to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself,” she tweeted. “I took the jab & am here to answer your questions. Ask away!”
Ocasio-Cortez also attempted to explain to her constituents how the mRNA vaccine works.
“It’s kind of like the difference between if you had a burglar and he broke into your house and then you learn how to fight him off versus if someone gave you a picture of the burglar that has been breaking into someone’s house, and then if you see that picture and then you see that guy walking towards your house, you’re like ‘oh I know that guy, he’s a burglar,'” she said.
Image: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <;, via Wikimedia Commons
