CONGRESS VAX VEX

Aides jump ahead of seniors

More than a thousand “critical” Capitol Hill staffers will get priority access to the coronavirus vaccine while seniors and f irst responders across the country continue an agonizing wait, according to a newly revealed memo.

The memo — authored by Congress’ attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan and first reported by Politico on Monday — states that vaccines will be available for two members of each congressperson’s staff, plus an additional four for the staffs of each committee chair and ranking member.

“Employees who occupy positions determined to make them eligible for the vaccine under these standards will be and/or have been notified of their status separately and provided with logistical information regarding the process for scheduling an appointment for the vaccination,” the memo reads in part.

It notes that vaccines should go to staffers whose work is essential to the “continuity of operations,” including those whose jobs require face-to-face interactions.

With 435 lawmakers in the House of Representatives and another 100 in the Senate, the measure ties up 1,070 doses of the vaccine — not counting those for the staffs of committee leaders.

“We will continue to keep the House community informed of further supply of COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes available on a wider scale,” Monahan added.

The vaccine was previously made available to members of Congress themselves starting in mid-December, in the interest of protecting continuity of government and national-security interests.

Early access to the vaccine for lawmakers has become a polarizing issue — for once not divided strictly along partisan lines.

Some pols on both sides of the aisle have said that they would refuse the vaccine until frontline health-care workers and seniors had adequate access.

Those lawmakers include Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).

Others, including Democratic Bronx-Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have publicly broadcast their inoculations, arguing that doing so helps build public confidence that the vaccines are safe and effective.

But while many legislators who have had the vaccine are themselves seniors — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — the same cannot be said of most of their staffers.

According to the Beltway think tank New America, most congressional worker bees are under the age of 35.

“Capitol Hill is staffed primarily by millennials,” according to a study by the group last updated in September. “Roughly 60 percent of the congressional staffer population is under the age of 35, and 75 percent under 40 years old. Most members [of Congress] are baby boomers, but less than 10 percent of their staff are of the same generation.”

Earlier this month, President Trump tweeted his intent to cancel a plan that would offer the vaccine to White House staffers before frontline essential workers.

Trump, who is 74 and has already battled the virus, said in the same message that he was “not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.”

President-elect Joe Biden, 78, received the first of two vaccine doses last week.

Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two shots administered a few weeks apart.