4th District Candidate Emily Burns Attacks Boston Vaccine Mandate

NEWTON, MA — Newton mom and businesswoman Emily Burns, who is running against Congressman Jake Auchincloss to represent Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District in the 2022 election, released a statement Monday highlighting what she calls the “shortcomings” of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s vaccine mandate.

Burns, who is running as part of the Republican Party, has already spoken out against both mask and vaccine mandates. This stance drastically sets her apart from Auchincloss, who he has advocated for the use of masks during surges and is currently championing vaccines as the main method of recovery in the state.

"Boston Mayor Wu’s vaccine mandate will not serve to improve the physical or economic health of Boston,” said Burns. "It will serve to segregate and further disenfranchise Black, Hispanic, and American Indian Bostonians, whose vaccination rates trail far behind Asians and whites."

“Before we jump to the conclusion this has to do with hospitals, the most recent HHS data
shows Boston with just 41 COVID patients (9%) in its ~450 staffed ICU beds,” she continued. "Last year without vaccines Boston ICUs peaked at only 130 COVID patients. If hospital capacity were a concern, returning capacity to last year’s peak levels would seem to be a far better approach. As it is, at the peak of last year’s surge, things were 'so bad,; that Boston hospitals reduced staffed ICU
beds by more than 1/3—and have been decreasing since.”

Burns went on to accuse Wu of “politicizing the pandemic” and pressing the ‘do something’ button to score political points.