Back to School in D.C…Not for 40% of Black Students

“Once again, the liberal Democrats who run Washington D.C. are instituting even more discriminatory vaccine mandates for Black Americans living in the D istrict with their youth vaccine mandate for school enrollment. Black parents in D.C. know what is best for their young children and should not be forced to keep them at home if they have legitimate reservations regarding forced COVID vaccine mandates for minors. Democrats remain on the wrong side of parents, children, and education.” – Paris Dennard, RNC National Spokesperson and Director of Black Media Affairs
 

Back to School in D.C…Not for 40% of Black Students
 

According to The Washington Post, D.C. students who are 12 and older must be vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend school this upcoming academic year.

• “The youth vaccine mandate in D.C. is among the strictest in the nation, according to health experts, and is being enacted in a city with wide disparities in vaccination rates between its White and Black children.”
• Only 60% of Black children between the ages of 12 and 15 have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
  • That means 40% of Black school-aged children in Washington D.C. could be forced to stay at home and not return to in-person school.

This discriminatory youth vaccine mandate is not the norm for Washington, D.C. metro area students. The Washington Post reported:

• Neither Prince George’s County nor Montgomery County Public Schools — Maryland’s largest school district, with roughly 160,000 students — have coronavirus vaccination requirement for students.
• This is not the first time Democrat leaders have pushed discriminatory vaccine mandates that disproportionately hurt Black Americans.
  • Last year, nearly 50% of D.C . residents were barred from entering indoor establishments because of the liberal D.C. Mayor’s vaccine mandate.

A recent New York Times story highlighted how parents have become single-issue voters ahead of the midterm elections on the issue of vaccine mandates for children.

• “Nearly half of Americans oppose masking and a similar share is against vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, polls show.”
• “‘I’m a single-issue voter now, and I can’t see myself supporting Democratic Party candidates unless they show they fought to keep our kids in school and let parents make decisions about masks and vaccines,’ she said, adding that she prefers Mr. Astorino for New York governor over the Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul.”

Forcing children to stay home and not have in person learning will hurt Black children and push them further behind academically and socially.

• Black parents will not forget what Joe Biden and Democrats have already done throughout this pandemic:
  • Locked down schools, then  kept them shut as long as possible.
  • Demanded toddlers wear masks despite the  documented harms. 
  • Forced students to eat outdoors.
  • Isolated students.

American parents won’t forget how terrible the vaccine mandates were. That’s why parents  trust Republicans more on education, especially now as Democrats try to  reinstate some of their most  harmful policies that have contributed to mental, behavioral, and emotional health crises among our children.
 
 

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