Alabama Republican Governor Kay Ivey grabbed the headlines when on Thursday she said it was time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks for the rise of the coronavirus cases in the state.

“It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she told reporters according to CNN inputs.

The strong words come at a time average daily COVID-19 cases have doubled in Alabama in a week and are four times higher than two weeks ago. The 76-year-old’s statements also come in stark contrast to that of many GOP leaders, who are refusing to urge people to get vaccinated.

Born in Wilcox County, Alabama in 1944, Ivey worked on her father’s farm. In 1967, she graduated from Auburn University, following which she worked as a high school teacher and a bank officer briefly.

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She served as Reading Clerk of the Alabama House of Representatives under Speaker Joseph C. McCorquodale and was Assistant Director of the Alabama Development Office, where she worked to battle unemployment and spur economic development across the state.

Furthermore, extending her wings into the world of politics, Kay, in 2002, became the first Republican elected State Treasurer since Reconstruction. Following the completion of her tenure, he was reelected in 2006.

In 2010, Kay added to her laurels, when she was elected as the Lieutenant Governor, becoming the first Republican woman to hold the office in Alabama’s history.

A Lieutenant Governor’s primary Constitutional duty is to preside over legislative proceedings of the upper house as President of the Senate.

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In 2014, while reflecting on her first term as lieutenant governor, Ivey said that she had worked with the Legislature to reduce unemployment, shrink the state government and pass budgets that did not require midyear cuts because of overspending, New York Times reported. 

Then on November 4, 2014, she became the first Republican Lieutenant Governor to be reelected to the office. 

Finally, on April 10, 2017, acting Chief Justice Lyn Stuart swore Kay in as the 54th Governor of the State of Alabama in the Old Senate Chamber at the Alabama State Capitol. Then in November 2018, Governor Ivey was elected for a full term after nineteen months in office.