Amanda Kloots is facing backlash for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine despite not being an essential worker or over 65 years old. However, it does not appear she did anything wrong by getting vaccinated.
The wife of the late Nick Cordero — who died last summer of COVID complications — posted a photo of herself getting the vaccine in her car in Los Angeles. Social media immediately reacted and slammed the 38 year old.
The daytime talk show personality explained how she got the vaccine in her caption.
"I just got my COVID 19 vaccine! I went to a site and waited in my car until all appointments were over in hopes that they had any extra vaccines. I was fully prepared to be turned away, but they said they had enough tonight for everyone waiting," she said. "I cannot tell you how emotional I was and still am right now."
Amanda said her son Elvis, whom she shares with Nick, was by her side, and they were listening to Nick's most popular song, "Live Your Life," as she got the jab.
"I have been terrified since Nick has passed, as a single mother, of getting this virus and now I am one step closer to safety," she said.
Waiting for extra doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has become quite common across the country. Since the vaccine has a very limited shelf life, it will spoil if not used quickly. Experts have said that about 15 percent of those with vaccine appointments are not showing up to get their inoculation. Due to that, many eager people have joined waiting lists (or waste lists, as some people call them) to get the vaccine on the chance that extra doses are available at the end of every day. In fact, in early January, a Los Angeles clinic reportedly had 150 unused vials that were about to spoil at the end of one day. Rather than throw them in the garbage, the staff pulled out their waiting list and made calls to the people on it.
Each state — and sometimes each individual clinic — has different rules for how they are approaching vaccine wait lists. Amanda went to a venue where remaining extra doses go to individuals waiting on site (and in her case, waiting for hours).
Still, some misinformed social media users felt that Amanda was skipping the line.
"First of all, vaccine shaming should not happen. Everyone should be getting this vaccine, and anyone that gets it, we should be celebrating that one more person has got the vaccine," Amanda said on her Instagram Story. "I knew that I could possibly be turned away, but I drove [there], and I waited in a line in the hopes that at the end of the day, at the end of appointments, they may have extra vaccines that would otherwise be thrown out."
"And instead of being thrown out, they were put into an arm…an arm of a surviving single mother that deserves to have an extra vaccine that would have been thrown in the trash," she continued while tearing up. "So, sorry that I am getting a little emotional, but this was a very emotional experience for me. I was perfectly fine being turned away tonight if that was the case. I was actually prepared to be turned away. I was giving it a shot, and luckily the shot worked and they had availability and they were happy to have people there waiting with willing arms. And I was happy to be one of those willing arms."