Challenging Kai Ivey, Stacey George says the governor should not ‘underestimate’ unvaccinated people

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Alabama Gov. candidate Stacey George today criticized Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for making comments he said he underestimated people who choose not to get coronavirus vaccines.

George responded to comments Ivey made Thursday to reporters who asked the governor about the increasing COVID numbers in Alabama and how to urge more people to get vaccinated.

Ivey said, “I don’t know. You tell me.”

“People are supposed to have common sense,” she said. “It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated people, not the normal people. It’s the unvaccinated people who let us down…. I’ve done everything I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself.” “.

The comments were a change of tone for Ivy, who emphasized personal responsibility as she called for vaccinations and held press conferences when she received her shots in December and January.

George, the corrections officer at Limestone Correctional Facility who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination on July 1, said he has not received a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I am one of those unvaccinated people who were just reprimanded by Governor Ivey,” George said in a statement. “Unlike Governor Ivey, I respect everyone who gets vaccinated as well as those like me who choose not to get vaccinated for various reasons. The governor should not underestimate people who disagree with her.”

George said he had a tough bout with COVID-19 last year and had a fever for about seven days. Because of that, he said, he thought he likely had the antibodies to fight the virus. But he said he likely wouldn’t get vaccinated even if he didn’t, in part because he’s not in a population that is at high risk of getting seriously ill from COVID.

“I don’t see the need to vaccinate healthy people like me,” George said. “And that’s my opinion. But I respect people who choose to vaccinate. It’s just a personal choice. Kind of like a freelance business working in Alabama.”

The virus is increasing in Alabama. The state reported that 727 coronavirus patients were receiving care in Alabama hospitals as of Friday, the most since the end of February.

As of today, Alabama still has the lowest vaccination rate in the country with 33.9 percent of the population fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The more contagious delta variant appears to lead to increased disease.

Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association and a former state health official, described the increase in hospitalizations from the coronavirus as a “self-inflicted wound.”

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