Speaker Nancy Pelosi says despite Thursday’s CDC guidance that vaccinated people can stop wearing masks and discontinue social distancing protocols all members of the House will have to continue to wear masks because so few Republicans have been vaccinated.
“Are they all vaccinated?” Speaker Pelosi asked after telling a reporter Thursday that she is not removing the mask mandate.
On Friday CNN reported that 100% of both House and Senate Democrats have been vaccinated.
But more than half of House Republicans are refusing to be vaccinated or to reveal their vaccination status.
“312 of the 431 members of the House — just over 72% of the 431-member body — have now received a Covid-19 vaccination. Of that, all 219 House Democrats have reported being vaccinated. Among the Republican conference, 95 of the 212 members — 44.8% — have said they are vaccinated.”
“One hundred and twelve Republican offices did not respond to multiple CNN inquires.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (photo), Republican of Kentucky told CNN he will not be getting the vaccine, and offered false information to support his decision.
“The Pfizer and Moderna trials showed no benefit from the vaccine for those previously infected, so I will not be taking the vaccine,” Massie claimed in a carefully-crafted but misleading statement.
According to the CDC, “you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19.”
On the Senate side, 46 of 50 Republicans have been vaccinated, two refuse to say if they have been or have not been, and two are refusing to be vaccinated.
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky “are refusing to get vaccinated, arguing they already got the disease and therefore don’t need it.”
That’s false, again, according to the CDC.
“I thought I was doing everyone a favor,” Johnson, a right wing extremist who has been spreading false information about the coronavirus, told CNN in March. “I don’t think any of this is settled science, but the reason I am not vaccinated yet is I have had Covid and even when I had it, I had a mild case. … Now I am being attacked as being anti-science. It boggles my mind.”