SAN DIEGO — Paula Whitsell, Chairwoman of the Republican Party of San Diego County, released the following statement:
“Yesterday evening, all 3 Democrats on the County Board of Supervisors voted against authorizing Law Enforcement Officers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. We are appalled by the decision and see no valid reason behind the vote.
In late January, Board Chair Nathan Fletcher claimed that law enforcement could not be vaccinated because “we’ve got established guidance from the federal government and the state government, that we have to follow.”
That statement was invalidated by a member of the state’s COVID-19 Taskforce, who said, “at this point, counties have the discretion in who they are vaccinating.”
If that wasn’t insulting enough to San Diego Law Enforcement, he and the other Democrats voting outright to bar them from getting the vaccine is. This decision by the Democrat members of the Board directly puts Law Enforcement Officers in harm’s way.
Police officers often arrive on the scene before EMTs and paramedics. However, workers from both of the latter occupations are eligible to receive the vaccine.
Multiple counties throughout the state have already begun vaccinating law enforcement, and it has been reported that San Diego has the capacity to vaccinate all 4,000 local Law Enforcement Officers in one-day if they wished.
Supporting Law Enforcement Officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect the public should not be a partisan issue. Yesterday’s ruling should’ve been a unanimous vote in favor of vaccinating LEOs.
The Party is calling on the Board to reverse their misguided decision and allow LEOs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 immediately.
We also want to commend Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson for voting yes on the measure, as the rest of the Board should’ve done.”
CONTACT
Paula Whitsell, Chairwoman at paula@sandiegorepublicans.org or 619-940-5767
Republican Party of San Diego County Issues Statement regarding Democrat Supervisors Voting Against Vaccinations for Law Enforcement
