A famous instructor from the famous cycling training brand SoulCycle is backing down after being criticized for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine under the guise of being a teacher.
On Friday, Stacey Griffith – an excellent New York City fitness coach who, according to a recent Vox report, earns at least $ 800 per class – shared images of her trip to Staten Island to get the Modern vaccine .
“Now I can teach @SoulCycle with a little more faith that we will all be fine if we can [vaccine], ”Griffith, whose celebrity clients included Kelly Ripa and Madonna, told her 64,000 followers on Instagram.
It didn’t take long for many of these followers to rebuke the 52-year-old author. Two laps from scratch to avoid elderly and high-risk individuals who have not yet been vaccinated.
“We are going to celebrate that we are making the world safe for face-to-face spinning classes in the midst of a global pandemic,” said a comment from a woman who shared that she and his wife, a cancer patient, were still months away from being eligible for their own photos. “What remains of any respect I had for Soul and the leaders it celebrates is over.”
Griffith initially defended his choice, telling the Daily Beast that as a teacher, she fit New York City Department of Health qualification 1B, which includes healthcare professionals, residents over 65, grocery workers and teachers – the type who oversees classrooms and daycare centers, no fitness studios.
“All teachers can apply for the vaccine,” Griffith told the Daily Beast on Friday. “My post today was to show my confidence in the system, in our government, and I hope that everyone can at least feel more comfortable knowing that I went through the process!”
She added that she owed her community, “in my profession as a health and wellness teacher,” to be vaccinated to help reduce transmission in class.
“Having me vaccinated can stop the short spread within groups!” Griffith told the publication. “I function as a common point for many people who overlap. In my profession as a health and wellness teacher, it is my daily priority to keep my community and its respiratory systems operating at full capacity so that they can fight this virus if they are infected with it. I can only teach them if I am also healthy. “
She did the same with a critic on Instagram who questioned her judgment.
“Keeping you all safe is my top priority, keeping my elderly passengers safe is my top priority,” she wrote. “I see hundreds every week, I think it’s fair to say it was a good decision.”
But the reaction persisted, with critics arguing that the best way to protect the elderly was not to skip the vaccination queue, which has been plagued by long waiting lists, poor attendance, confusion with online forms and scheduling problems. VoxAlex Abad-Santos, meanwhile, postulated that few elderly or high-risk pilots could be found in Griffith’s SoulCycle classes now, as they are currently held outdoors in the cold.
Griffith ended up deleting his post, telling the Animal Themes, “I hate controversy. I’m sad to see that people get so dark and bad, I’m just trying to do the right thing and be safe. “
On Monday, Griffith – whose high-profile romance with Milly fame stylist Michelle Smith was featured on New York Times – shared a more contrite message.
“I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent action on receiving the vaccine,” she wrote in an Instagram post, whose comment has been disabled. “I made a terrible error of judgment and that’s why I’m really sorry.”
His apology follows a statement from SoulCycle clarifying that instructors should not seek vaccinations based only on being “educators”.
“Stacey Griffith operated on a personal basis when applying for a NY state COVID-19 vaccine,” a SoulCycle spokesman told Yahoo Life. “SoulCycle plays no role in organizing or obtaining vaccines for instructors or other employees, nor do we encourage any of our SoulCycle employees to pursue vaccine priority as educators.”
Griffith has not yet responded to Yahoo Life’s request for comment.
To latest coronavirus news and updates, go together on https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and immunocompromised remain the most at risk. If you have questions, consult the CDC‘sand Who is it resource guides.
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Originally published