Thread by @dsamuelsohn

NEW: Members of Congress frequently demand frontline workers & most vulnerable get dibs on the COVID vaccine so that rich & powerful don't get special treatment. But a @Politicsinsider investigation found the opposite is happening where they work. ($)

businessinsider.com/congress-covid…

Lawmakers were among the first in line once the vaccine was ready for distribution. They received their shots starting in mid-December and some of their top aides are getting them now.

Meanwhile, thousands of police officers, custodial staff, construction workers, food service employees, and others who make it possible for lawmakers to do their jobs are still waiting to get vaccinated or even find out when they'll get their shots.

"That has been a concern," said a female custodial worker who withheld her name b/c staffers have been warned against speaking with the media. She noted her job is impossible to do remotely but added she might wait to get the vaccine later even if it were available.

Insider spoke with more than 15 essential workers at the Capitol and in House and Senate offices who said they hadn't been vaccinated and didn't know any colleagues who've received the shot. They also didn't know when they'd be able to get one.

They wouldn't elaborate & or preferred not to go on the record for fear of retribution at their jobs because of longstanding orders against talking to reporters that Capitol Hill staffers said have been especially emphasized in recent weeks after the January 6 attack on Congress.

As they wait their turn, the risk of exposure is real both within the confines of Congress and during the commutes of those who use public transportation.

"I haven't heard anything," about vaccines being broadly available on the Hill, said another maintenance worker from the House. He told Insider that it didn't bother him that lawmakers went first & that he tries to stay safe by keeping his distance from others & wearing a mask.

Interviews with at least eight members of Congress and emails sent to congressional leadership offices reveal they don't seem to have a plan — at least as of Wednesday — to help the essential workers on Capitol Hill get vaccines.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a brief hallway interview on January 21 that he didn't know when Capitol Hill would get widespread vaccination. "I think hopefully it will be made available because we work in such a close environment," he said.

Lawmakers started getting vaccines in December, just one week after US regulators gave the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. But since then, interviews with senators and their aides show no clear direction how and when others on Capitol Hill will be inoculated.

House members have each been picking 2 staffers since 12/28 to get shots. The guidance came from the Office of the Attending Physician at the Capitol, which allowed House committee chairs and ranking members on each panel to pick 4 people to get vaccinated.

It wasn't immediately clear about Senate guidance. Lawmakers & aides offered different answers. A senior GOP aide who hadn't been vaccinated said he heard the offices in the upper chamber had far more flexibility about how many people they were allowed to put up for vaccines.

The Senators that Insider talked to were not sure. "I think it's three staff," Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said when asked how many people were allowed to get vaccinated. "I thought it was five," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the top R on the Committee on Rules and Administration that oversees how the chamber is run, said his office received "a handful" of vaccines. He said he wanted the Capitol's essential workers to get vaccines but that his committee didn't have a say.

"I'm not hearing when, but I know it's being discussed and I'm encouraging that discussion," Blunt said.

"People that are doing important work here every day making sure the building operates — making sure we can do our work — they have to get vaccinated, no question," PA Democratic Sen. Bob Casey said. "We should make sure that others have access to it right away."

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