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- With one of the lowest vaccination rates in the US, Alabama's governor called for more vaccinations.
- Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said blame belongs with her state's unvaccinated population.
- "It's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks," she said.
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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who for much of the pandemic resisted public health measures, criticized her state's unvaccinated population in comments on Thursday.
Ivey, a Republican, once feuded with her own lieutenant governor over what he warned was a weak coronavirus response, told reporters on Thursday that she's "done all that I know how to do."
-David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 23, 2021
"I don't know, you tell me," she said when asked what it would take to get more people vaccinated. "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."
Alabama currently has the fourth lowest vaccination rate nationwide, according to The New York Times tracker.
Just 42.6% of adults in the heavily Republican state are fully vaccinated.
Earlier this week, Alabama Dr. Brytney Cobia went viral for a Facebook post detailing the surge in hospitalizations she's facing among unvaccinated Alabamians.
"One of the last things they do before they're intubated is beg me for the vaccine," Cobia wrote. "I hold their hand and tell them that I'm sorry, but it's too late."