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Letter: Did LDS leaders get the vaccine because of preferential treatment?

(Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church President Russell M. Nelson receives the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Salt Lake City.

As I read an article about how all the top LDS leaders, as well as most of their spouses, were able to get their first COVID vaccine on Jan. 19, I wondered if divine intervention somehow played a role in them all being able to successfully navigate their county’s first come, first served vaccine sign-up website.

Sure, they are over 70 and are currently eligible for the shot, but the same holds true for thousands of other seniors across the state who have been vocal about their own difficulties in getting an appointment slot through the county health department websites.

I don’t seem to recall clergy being listed as essential workers, but maybe I missed it. Were elderly Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist or Protestant leaders also put at the front of the line for the shots, or is this just another example of how the Utah government plays favorites with their locally dominant church by not adhering to the concept of separation of church and state?

Craig Cooper, Vineyard

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