Donalds Compares Mayor Bowser's School Vaccine Mandate to Segregation

Whether or not one is in favor of COVID-19 vaccines, one must admit this measure is a bit extreme. According to the Daily Signal, Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser (D) is enacting a total ban on school attendance for unvaccinated students. There is no virtual school option for them either. An even more glaring problem of this plan is the fact that, in the D.C. school district, 47% of black students between 12-15 year olds, and 42% of black teenagers 16-17, are unvaccinated. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL-19) has called out this racial disparity in a tweet Thursday afternoon. Donalds calls to mind school segregation, saying that "there was a time in America when Democrats denied Black children the right to a quality education because of their skin color."

"There was a time in America when Democrats denied Black children the right to a quality education because of their skin color. Now, Democrats are denying children in a majority-minority city the fundamental right to a quality education because of their vaccination status," Donalds tweeted.

School in Washington D.C. starts this Monday. Students aged 12 and up under this mandate must update their vaccination status within 20 days or be banned from attending school. Private school students must also comply, and a negative COVID test must be presented before the school year starts.

This is not the first time Florida Republicans have spoken out against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This past November, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) filed suit against a federal vaccine mandate he called "unconstitutional." In December, Senator Rick Scott (R) backed a similar suit filed by the US Navy SEALS, citing religious exemptions. And just in July, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL-6) wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanding he not implement a vaccine mandate for the National Guard.

What sets Donalds' latest tweet apart is that this Washington D.C. vaccine mandate is targeting our nation's children.