Amanda Kloots defends herself from backlash after receiving first dose of Covid vaccine

Amanda Kloots has called out people who criticised her for receiving her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, explaining that she waited in line and received a vaccine that would have otherwise been thrown away.

The 38-year-old television presenter, whose husband Nick Cordero died from the virus in July, revealed that she had gotten her first dose on Instagram on Friday, an opportunity she said made her “emotional” and “grateful”.

In the caption of the post, which shows her smiling as a healthcare worker administers the vaccine, Kloots originally wrote that she “cannot tell you how emotional I was and still am right now”.

However, after the post sparked backlash among some of Kloots’ followers, who questioned how she received the vaccine in Los Angeles, whereessential workers and people over the age of 65 are the only ones currently eligible, she updated the post to explain that she drove to a site and and waited in her 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. I cannot tell you how emotional I was and still am right now,” the Talk host said, adding that she had her and Cordero’s one-year-old son Elvis in the car with her.

“THANK YOU to the National Guard that was here today volunteering since 5.30am administering the Pfizer vaccine to willing arms. 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,” Kloots wrote.

On her Instagram Stories, the fitness instructor also defended herself against “vaccine-shaming,” telling her followers in multiple videos that “vaccine-shaming should not happen” and that “we should be celebrating that one more person has got the vaccine”.

“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,” she said.

Kloots then explained that she had driven to the vaccine site in the hopes that there would be leftover vaccines available after all the appointments were fulfilled, which would otherwise be thrown away.

Rather than being thrown away, Kloots emotionally stated that the vaccine should be “put into an arm of a surviving single mother that deserves to have an extra vaccine that would have been thrown in the trash”.

“So please, please do not vaccine-shame me on my photo after this day where I am so grateful to have this first step in getting vaccinated against this virus,” Kloots added.

In a follow-up post shared to her Stories, the mother-of-one also denied that her ability to wait in her car for the vaccine was “celebrity privilege”.

“Waiting in line, with a baby in the car that should be in bed, at a vaccination site in hopes that after all appointments are finished there may be extra vaccines available to anyone waiting IS NOT celebrity privilege,” she wrote. “IT IS a relentless mother.”

Kloots’ husband died from the virus at the age of 41 after spending more than 90 days in the hospital.

Since Cordero’s death, Kloots has regularly opened up about her experience with grief. This month, she marked seven months since his passing with an Instagram post where she reflected on how hard it is seeing pictures of her husband from just a year ago while sharing some of her tactics for dealing with grief.

“It’s been very hard seeing pictures of us just a year ago and not feeling horrible pain and thinking: ‘how did this happen?’” she captioned a photo of her husband, adding: “Emotionally speaking I have recognised that I’m not doing so great with my grief right now.”