Rep. Byron Donalds blasts Democrats institutionalizing vaccine 'segregation': 'That's their history'

A top Republican lawmaker fired back at Democrats like President Biden and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio who are seeking to mandate vaccines in order to engage in various sectors of commerce or business, comparing it to how Democrats instituted racial segregation in the time from the Civil War through the mid-20th Century.

Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates for millions of federal workers and contractors as he lamented the "American tragedy" of rising-yet-preventable deaths among the unvaccinated, as de Blasio ordered almost all forms of indoor businesses to check the vaccine documents of persons entering their establishments.

On "Fox News Primetime", House Oversight Committee member Byron Donalds, who is Black, said that such policies inordinately affect African-Americans, pointing to the fact only 38% of the Black community has been vaccinated – while host Lawrence Jones noted the media wants to pin the blame on conservative Trump supporters, some of whom are also hesitant to get the jab.

Donalds, of Naples, pointed out that until Biden entered the White House, he and other Democrats were forcefully and publicly skeptical of vaccines – pointing to Vice President Harris and embattled New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

"You had Joe Biden bring up Tuskegee multiple times on the campaign trail. That kind of rhetoric seeps into the body politic, so when you look at what is going on in the country, yes, the largest percentage of our population has vaccine hesitancy is the Black community," he said, referring to Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, in which the federal government experimented on Alabama sharecroppers who were instead told they were receiving free health care.

The Tuskegee experiments ran for 40 years beginning in 1932. In the late 1990s, President Clinton formally apologized to the human test subjects on behalf of the United States.

Donalds added that Democrats are unfazed by the reticence in the Black community, given these and other factors.

"The way the Democrats are going is the way always do. They have no problem choosing segregation; that's their history; if it means maintaining power," he said. "It's no different today."

Donalds said the best course of action for any American is to go to their general practitioner and get the necessary vital information.

"If you feel comfortable enough, go get the vaccine," he said.

Jones later agreed that the mandates coming from various governments and officials are going to lead to "open segregation" across the country once again.

"A lot of folks aren't going to be able to have Black folks in their facility. We know that's unconstitutional. We know people shouldn't be mandated to get a vaccine that hasn't been approved yet. Where are all the civil libertarians in the Democratic Party?" he asked.

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Radio host Dana Loesch added that by ignoring the concerns of African-Americans, and instead politicizing hesitancy as coming from "the White Trump voter", they are even further eroding their credibility.

"[Donalds] gave a great example the president and vice president of the United States [being] the first people to actually question taking the quote-unquote ‘Trump vaccine’ and shame everyone for saying the very words that they said a year ago," she said. "It doesn't make sense."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.