Boston's acting mayor walked back her controversial comments comparing vaccine passports to slavery papers - sort of.
Kim Janey, who stepped into City Hall after elected Mayor Marty Walsh left to join the Biden cabinet, said: 'I wish I had not used those analogies because they took away from the important issue of ensuring that our vaccination and public health policies are implemented with fairness and equity.'
However, she held firm in her belief that vaccination passports are not the answer.
'There's a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers,' Janey said.
Kim Janey, 56, vowed to increase vaccination rates and create racial equality when she was sworn in as Mayor of Boston on March 24
Janey stated that Boston will not be requiring 'vaccine passports' after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that residents would need to begin showing proof before entering indoor businesses
Janey, 56, made the comments that landed her in hot water on August 3, the same day New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced indoor businesses would begin requiring customers to show proof of vaccination on August 16.
Janey took the opportunity to compare these 'vaccination passports' to freedom papers, which were used by freed black people of color for travel before the end of American slavery.
'Whether we're talking about this from the standpoint of ... during slavery, post-slavery, as recent as what our immigrant population has to go through here,' Janey said in an interview with WCVB.
'We heard Trump with the birth certificate nonsense,' Janey added, referencing when Donald Trump in 2012 offered $5million to charity if President Barack Obama released his college and passport applications.
The New York State Excelsior Pass allows residents to keep digital proof of COVID-19 vaccinations and test results
