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Five Massachusetts state representatives will be barred from entering the State House in Boston for not disclosing their COVID-19 vaccination status.
Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano told reporters that the affected representatives would not be publically identified. However, he did say that the number of barred representatives went down from the count last week.
"The good news is that over this past weekend we had two additional reps come forward and get vaccinated so we're down to five," Mariano told reporters.
One hundred and forty-nine members of Massachusetts' House have provided their vaccination status, which became mandatory in order to attend in-person meetings in September. Members can also receive an exemption, but guidelines for the exemption have not been released to the public. These requests are still being reviewed, officials said.
"We continue to work with folks as they go through some of their requests for them to be removed from the requirements," Mariano said, "but we're happy with the progress that we're making."
The vaccination mandate at the Massachusetts State House is part of its reopening plan. The second phase of the plan will be allowing representatives and their staff into the House chamber. This part of the process could be closer than expected as 100 percent of the state Senate has complied with the policy, according to Senate President Karen Spika.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Most lawmakers have largely been working remotely since the start of the pandemic, both participating in meetings and public hearings online and casting votes from home when possible.
According to the Boston Herald, the House contains 159 members. Five more members of the House have either applied for medical or religious vaccinations or are waiting to get their second vaccine shot. The newspaper also says that Mariano did not release the name of the five lawmakers still not in compliance due to "confidentiality reasons."
CBS 4 Boston reported that the Massachusetts State House has been closed for over 20 months and that two committees are currently reviewing re-opening plans for staff and visitors. There is currently no timetable in place for the State House's reopening.
"The people's house welcomes all the people and therefore you don't have a closed environment that you would have at a school," Mariano told CBS 4.
Although the names of the defiant representatives have not been released, Republican Rep. Brad Jones told the website Boston.com that he suspects those refusing to disclose their vaccination status were among the 28 who voted against the mandate in September.
