SoulCycle’s Stacey Griffith Hopping Vaccine Scandal Explained

Stacey Griffith has been a SoulCycle Star Instructor for over a decade. For 45 minutes at a time, she teaches her riders how to ride to the beat, how to turn a knob that increases the resistance they push against and how to “find their passion and purpose” on bikes that aren’t going anywhere. Her classes are legendary and sell time and time again, making her the highest paid SoulCycle instructor in the business, at $ 800 per class.

And on Friday, she says she used those credentials to mark her first dose of Moderna vaccine.

“Now I can teach SoulCycle with a little more faith that everything will be fine,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post. She tagged five people who she said helped her “fill out online forms” and “submit documents” to get the vaccine.

Instagram

Griffith is located in New York City, where the city’s health department is in phase 1b of the vaccine rollout, making healthcare workers, grocery store staff, residents over 65, and teachers eligible for the vaccine. According to these guidelines, Griffith was not eligible, but she told the Daily Beast that she received the vaccine because she was an “educator” whose priority is to “keep my community and their respiratory systems at full capacity. so that they can defeat this virus if they are infected with it.

With how poorly the vaccine deployment was executed and how difficult it was for people who make to qualify to get the vaccine, Griffith’s explanation raised questions about what Griffith and his team filled out on said forms.

Griffith’s Instagram account was bombarded with angry commentators asking her why and how she was able to get a dose before people who might need it due to pre-existing underlying health conditions or age.

The scandal got so big that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed Griffith’s vaccine at a press conference this weekend, saying she shouldn’t have been able to get it.

“It doesn’t sound like someone who should have been vaccinated for me,” de Blasio said. “I don’t think someone who walks up and says, ‘Hey, I’m a SoulCycle instructor,’ should have qualified unless there was another factor.”

While Griffith’s vaccination is undoubtedly tabloid-worthy, it does symbolize the greatest frustrations surrounding the vaccine’s rollout in the United States. While there are rules for who can get the shot, being rich and well-connected can help someone jump the line. And as eligible parties refuse to participate and vaccines threaten to go wrong in some places, the larger conversation turns around a question: who “deserves” to be vaccinated?

SoulCycle distanced itself from star instructor’s vaccine

Officially, SoulCycle has distanced itself from Griffith’s actions. A spokesperson told me that the company had no role in scoring the vaccine for the famous instructor:

Stacey Griffith operated in a personal capacity requesting a COVID-19 vaccine from New York State. SoulCycle has no role in arranging or obtaining vaccinations for instructors or other employees, and we do not encourage any of our SoulCycle employees to prioritize vaccines as educators.

Likewise, in a note sent to staff members on Monday, the CEO of SoulCycle wrote that instructors should not try to get vaccinated by pretending to be educators. A former staff member sent me part of the company-wide memo:

… SoulCycle instructors are not qualified as educators to receive the vaccine based solely on their roles at SoulCycle and should not attempt to receive the vaccine unless they are otherwise eligible to do so, based on appropriate national regulations.

Within the company, some of Griffith’s fellow instructors are upset that she apparently skipped the line. Some called her specifically in her post, questioning her decision. An insider with knowledge of Griffith’s runners on SoulCycle’s outdoor rooftop in Tribeca said a number of his regular runners boasted of being vaccinated while others refused to comply with on-site masking protocols, a no stress for staff members who must be around them.

A current instructor told me that Griffith’s post reflects society poorly and shows the gulf between SoulCycle’s words and his actions. This matches SoulCycle’s image issues lately. After reporting on the company for months, I found that staff members were complaining about a toxic work environment that includes its rich clientele acting rude, infighting between instructors, and a system that thrives on exclusivity while preaching values ​​such as community and solidarity.

“This is exactly the problem with Soul,” a current instructor told me. “We must practice what we preach. We’re fucking angry, mostly because you know that bankruptcy is such a risk in this market.

Like many fitness group brands, SoulCycle has seen the pandemic crush its revenues in the United States because its studios cannot open. Griffith’s critics have argued that this decision by the company’s most famous instructor was arguably a bad look for a company that was already struggling financially.

While Griffith has received his fix, the country fails to attract people

But the overreaction to Griffith and SoulCycle also represents a bigger story.

There are probably a lot of people out there who have never taken a SoulCycle course before, or who know Griffith, but know what the brand stands for: luxury for the well-to-do and well-connected. The fact that Griffith can get the vaccine symbolizes how easy it can be for the wealthy to get what they want, before anyone else, especially those who qualify under New York guidelines and have no not yet been able to make an appointment.

The fact that Griffith apparently got his first dose of Moderna vaccine so easily amid the disorderly state rollout and national chaos shows just how much inequality underscores this pandemic. And how being rich and well connected can put you ahead of people who, due to their age, necessity, and vulnerability, have been seen as a priority by health officials.

The question of who “deserves” the vaccine is complicated, and some experts say we should vaccinate as many people as possible without worrying too much about the order. But if there is no order, it undermines the system. And it remains true that the vaccine is in demand, and Griffith’s account is accompanied by stories of how difficult it is for people, especially the elderly and people of color, to make appointments.

A CNN editorial details how difficult it was for the writer to get his parents vaccinated and how the Arizona Department of Health lost their appointment records. Similar stories of issues and struggles exist in New York City and South Carolina. In Jackson Heights, New York, a Covid-19 vaccination site targeting a hard-hit Latino community has seen its nominations mostly swallowed up by whites outside the community, CNN reported. There are also reports of underpriced vaccines, and stories of shortages as well.

Griffith posted an apology on Instagram on Monday.

“I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent action in receiving the vaccine,” she wrote. “I made a terrible error in judgment and for that I am very sorry.”

Griffith did not allow comments on the post. She’s still on the company’s calendar.