First, apparently, if you add public health to civic engagement, you get political dirty tricks? How pathetic!
GOP Leaders Criticize S.C. Organization
By JIM DAVENPORT
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A federally funded group that promised flu shots on Election Day in six of South Carolina's poorest counties has drawn criticism from Republican leaders.
Carolina Medical Review sent a bulk mailing earlier this month that said, "flu shots will be given in your county on Election Day. ... You don't have to vote to get a vaccine, and you don't have to get a vaccine to vote."
Four days later, news broke that British regulators had shut down a major supplier of the vaccine, cutting the U.S. supply of flu shots in half. Now, the Columbia-based group can't deliver on its Election-Day program.
The mailing to 46,000 Medicare recipients "borderlines on despicable," state Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson said Tuesday.
"The insinuation is that 'Come on and vote, and we'll vaccinate you for the flu.' That, in the electoral process, to me, just reeks of irresponsibility and certainly seems politically motivated to me," Dawson said.
Carolina Medical Review said the mailing was not politically motivated and was sent to areas with low vaccination rates based on federal health data. Spokeswoman Diana Zona said the organization has no political leanings.
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