Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch contracted COVID-19 after reportedly receiving both doses of the vaccine, his spokeswoman said.
Lynch, who allegedly received both doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, tested negative for the disease twice within the past 10 days, his spokeswoman said. The Pfizer vaccine can take seven or so days to become effective after the administration of the second dose, according to the company, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says full immunity “typically takes a few weeks” post-vaccination.
“This afternoon U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch received a positive test result for COVID-19 after a staff member in the Congressman’s Boston office had tested positive earlier in the week,” Lynch’s spokeswoman, Molly Rose Tarpey, said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner, adding that “while Mr. Lynch remains asymptomatic and feels fine, he will self-quarantine and will vote by proxy in Congress during the coming week.”
Lynch is the latest in a string of lawmakers who contracted the disease. Among those who have also tested positive for COVID-19 in January are Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, and Brad Schneider of Illinois.
All three members, who sheltered in place with Republican members during the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill siege, faulted maskless Republicans for their diagnoses. Schneider said he was “angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers,” and Jayapal called the event a “superspreader.”
“I am also calling for serious fines to be immediately levied on every single member who refuses to wear a mask in the Capitol,” said Jayapal after her positive diagnosis. “Additionally, any member who refuses to wear a mask should be immediately removed from the floor by the sergeant at arms. This is not a joke.”
