After driving an hour to a coronavirus vaccination site on Friday, SoulCycle celebrity instructor Stacey Griffith made her case to New York officials as to why she should receive a first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

What qualified Griffith, a spin instructor with a cult following among wealthy gym-goers, for the hard-to-come-by vaccine? The 52-year-old was an “educator,” she told the Daily Beast this weekend.

“In my profession of health and wellness as a teacher, it’s my priority daily to keep my community and their respiratory systems operating at full capacity so they can beat this virus if they are infected by it,” she told the publication. “I can only teach to them if I am healthy myself.”

But after boasting on Instagram that she had received “step one of the Moderna magic,” the fitness coach faced an outpouring of criticism, event from her own fans. On Monday, Griffith apologized for a “terrible error in judgment.”

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