DC vax mandate would disproportionately affect Black residents, data suggests
Only 39% of Black residents in DC are fully vaccinated
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The new COVID-19 vaccination mandate in Washington, D.C. would disproportionately impact Black residents in the city, vaccination data suggests.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday that she would be implementing a vaccination requirement for residents starting Jan. 15.
Vaccination data shows, however, that Bowser’s mandate would have a disproportionate effect on minorities in the city, in particular with Black residents.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}OUTRAGE AFTER DC MAYOR BOWSER’S NEW COVID VACCINE ORDER: ‘WILL KILL BUSINESSES NOT VIRUSES’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
According to the city’s most updated vaccination data, the vaccination rate for Black residents in D.C. is 46.4%, with only 39.4% of vaccinated Black residents being fully vaccinated.
"Democrats like Mayor Bowser and President Biden should be ashamed of themselves and their clearly discriminatory vaccine mandates that disproportionately penalize hardworking Black Americans who have the freedom to decide what is best for themselves and their families for personal, religious or medical reasons," Republican National Committee spokesman and director of Black media affairs Paris Dennard told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel has largely been given a pass by the mainstream media after she was spotted without a face mask during an indoor wedding reception Saturday night. (Tiana Lowe/Washington Examiner)
Bowser announced the vaccine mandate during a press conference and in a tweet thread on Wednesday, becoming the latest blue city to adopt such a measure.
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The mandate requires D.C. residents to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, nightclubs, indoor entertainment facilities, gyms and indoor meeting establishments.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bowser's order reads that people 12 and older must have at least one dose of the vaccine, which will be upped to two doses by Feb. 15. Her order comes on the heels of similar policies in New York City, Chicago, and Boston.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser testifies before a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the District of Columbia statehood bill, Monday, March 22, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Carlos Barria/Pool via AP)
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The mandate elicited angry responses online, with some warning of the economic consequences of implementing the mandate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Additionally, critics pointed out that Bowser’s approach to COVID restrictions is much more involved than her administration’s addressing the violent crime surge in the nation’s capital.
Bowser's office did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.