U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Monday introduced a bill they said is designed to protect 12- to 15-year-old students in Washington, D.C. public schools from mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.
If enacted, their legislation would would block a 2021 bill by the D.C. Council that amended a 1979 immunization law to add COVID-19 vaccines to the required list of childhood shots.
The Republican senators said enforcement of the 2021 law would be “particularly harmful” to black students, who are at a lower vaccination rate than other students.
“D.C. public schools are blatantly discriminating against black students in our nation’s capital. The rate of vaccination for black students between the ages of 12 and 15 in Washington, D.C. is 60 percent—far lower than the city average,” Cruz said in a statement….