Amanda Kloots, wife of late actor Nick Cordero, got COVID-19 vaccine after waiting in line for leftover doses

• In July 2020, Broadway star Nick Cordero died at age 41 of complications from COVID-19.
• His wife Amanda Kloots told People magazine that she got a COVID-19 vaccine dose on Friday.
• She waited at a site in LA and received a dose that would've otherwise been discarded, she said.

Amanda Kloots is the wife of the late Tony Award-nominated Broadway actor Nick Cordero, who died in July 2020 at age 41 from complications of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Cordero is survived by Kloots and their 1-year-old child, Elvis, who was born in June 2019.

Kloots, 38, said on Friday that she got her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles.

The fitness instructor and co-host on the CBS talk show series "The Talk" shared a post on Instagram Friday detailing her experience getting her first dose of the vaccine.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, healthcare workers and people aged 65 and older in the county are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

In her post, Kloots said that she went to a COVID-19 vaccination site and was prepared to wait to see if the officials running the site had any leftover doses at the end of the scheduled appointments.

"I was fully prepared to be turned away, but they said they had enough tonight for everyone waiting. I cannot tell you how emotional I was and still am right now," Kloots said.

Kloots told People magazine on Saturday that after sharing her experience on Instagram, she was criticized by some users for getting vaccinated despite not being eligible to make an appointment according to the public health mandates.

But Kloots defended her decision to People and pointed to her using a leftover dose that "would otherwise have been thrown out."

"We took a chance like I said, and anyone can try - and the fact that there was some backlash, took away this beautiful and emotional moment for me," she told the outlet. "Vaccine shaming should not be happening especially when you are waiting in line and that it would otherwise have been thrown out."

She added in an Instagram story that she believes her action was not a case of "celebrity privilege," but was instead an example of "a relentless mother."

"I am just happy and extremely grateful that we took a chance, and it could easily not have worked out," Kloots continued in the interview with People. "We could have been turned away and that would have been fine. People have been doing this and you just have to be willing to wait. Every arm this vaccine goes into is a beautiful thing. We should not be shaming anyone who gets this vaccine that will help America get back on track."

Kloots' late husband, Cordero, was treated at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than 90 days in 2020 after receiving a pneumonia diagnosis. On April 1, 2020, he tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was intubated. The former "Rock of Ages" Broadway star was put into a medically induced coma and had his right leg amputated due to complications with the disease.

Cordero died on July 5, 2020.

"I have been terrified since Nick has passed, as a single mother, of getting this virus - and now I am one step closer to safety," Kloots said in an Instagram story on Friday.