Alabama Official Compares Covid Vaccine Passports to Jewish Holocaust Badges

An elected official in Alabama has apologized after apparently comparing COVID-19 vaccine passports to badges Jewish people were forced to wear by the Nazis.

Kimberly B. Cook, a council member for the City of Vestavia Hills outside Birmingham, was contacted on Facebook by a member of the public claiming that "pretty soon we'll be asked to wear a gold 'U' on our breast pockets, a la Germany's Jewish badges."

His comments were posted alongside an image of Jewish girls and women wearing the star.

Cook, whose husband of more than 30 years is running for the Alabama Supreme Court in 2022, replied: "Yes, this analogy fits perfectly."

Responding to her comments, one person posted an image of a Californian immunisation record card and said: "Are these people totally unfamiliar with this form? It's already required for children to attend school and has been for years. We already have 'vaccine passports' this person is utterly ridiculous. And, no, this is nothing like the holocaust."

Another wrote: "This requires such a perverted cognitive leap that it seems like satire. We truly are living in completely different mental universes."

After her comments were widely shared on social media, Cook deleted the post and later issued an apology via AL.com, admitting she had made a "mistake."

She said: "I'm mortified that I made this mistake, I really am. I feel like I realize now that it was very offensive because I'm deeply aware of the significance of the Holocaust.

"I'm very upset, it did not occur to me how my agreement with someone else's post would reflect, and I do deeply regret it. The comparison was just wrong."

Cook, who describes herself as a writer, artist, musician, Boy Scout leader and "Christian conservative," is reported to be vaccinated although she is opposed to mandating inoculations.

She serves as the Education Liaison to the Vestavia Hills City Schools and before being elected as a councillor, worked as a software systems engineer for SouthTrust bank.

Greg Cook, her husband, is running for the associate justice position which is currently held by Justice Mike Bolin.

His tag-line on his campaign website is "Tested. Trusted. Trump-tough" and in 2020, he was elected as a delegate for President Trump to the Republican National Convention.

"Our constitutional rights are under attack from those who seek to turn us from a constitutional republic into a socialist state," his website states. "As a textualist, Greg Cook believes the Constitution should be interpreted as it was written. While liberal judges and bureaucrats believe our constitutional rights are not absolute, Greg will defend our First Amendment and Second Amendment rights."

Newsweek contacted Kimberly Cook for comment.