Just days after the Washington, D.C., vaccine mandate for indoor businesses was lifted, city lawmakers will meet Friday in a special session to determine whether to reinstate it.
Councilman Phil Mendelson called for the legislative meeting on Wednesday, setting the council up for a vote to reimplement the vaccine requirements through an emergency bill introduced Tuesday — the same day the mandate was lifted.
“I want to thank the Chairman for agreeing to call a special legislative meeting this Friday for consideration of this critical measure,” Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau, who introduced the emergency legislation, said in a tweet.
The bill requires nine votes to pass the council, and it requires approval from Mayor Muriel Bowser to take effect. It’s unclear whether the mayor would approve or veto the measure, and her office did not respond to comment from the Washington Examiner.
DC COUNCIL MEMBER ANNOUNCES BILL TO REINSTATE VACCINE MANDATE SAME DAY IT’S LIFTED
Bowser announced Monday that the districtwide vaccine mandate would expire Tuesday, exactly one month after it was implemented. The mayor rejected the view that revocation was a premature move, arguing the city is in a “much better place” than it was at the height of the omicron variant surge.
“We have to be nimble if something is to change, like it changed in December with a new, very contagious variant,” Bowser said in a press conference Monday. “I don’t think any of us can say here that there won’t be other variants that would require us to do something different.”
Nadeau shot back, introducing legislation the next day that would reimplement vaccine requirements for residents over 12 years old in restaurants, entertainment venues, and other recreational establishments.
“Without consulting with the Council of the District of Columbia, without warning, without giving reasons tied to the status of healthcare access in the District, and without regard for the needs of vulnerable residents, including young children and immunocompromised individuals, the Mayor announced that the proof of vaccination requirement established by her earlier order would no longer be in effect as of February 15, 2022,” Nadeau said in a statement. “The … circumstances have made it clear that the vaccine requirement established by the Mayor’s Order is still necessary to protect District residents.”
A majority of district residents favored the vaccine mandates, according to a poll released by the Washington Post on Tuesday. The citywide survey found that 3 in 4 residents supported the requirement to show proof of vaccination before entering a business. Sixty-three percent said the level of restrictions imposed has been “the right amount.”
The vaccine mandate had support across various demographics (86% of white residents, 63% of black residents) and a majority of support across different age groups and education levels, according to a poll analysis from the newspaper.
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The poll was taken over a two-week period beginning Feb. 1 and ending Monday, the day Bowser announced the vaccine mandate would be lifted. The survey was conducted among a random sample of 904 adults in Washington with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
If passed, the bill would take effect immediately after approval from the mayor and would last for 90 days.
