Acting Boston mayor BACKTRACKS on her comparison of vaccine passports to slavery but stops short of an apology and says 'there's a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers'

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

Janey compared vaccination passports to freedom papers, which were used by freed people of color to allow travel during Civil War era America 

Janey received criticism from members of the Boston City Council such as Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu. 

 'Showing proof of vaccination is not slavery or birtherism,' Campbell tweeted. 'We are too close to give ground to COVID. Science is science. It's pretty simple - Vax up and mask up.'

Wu added in a statement:  'Anyone in a position of leadership should be using that position to build trust in vaccines.'

Boston council members Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu took to Twitter to criticize Janey's statements with Campbell calling it 'dangerous' 

Janey made history this year after she became the first black and first female mayor in Boston history on March 24. 

The City Council president stepped up to replace Marty Walsh, who was tapped as Secretary of Labor by President Biden. 

Since she was sworn in, Janey vowed to fight racial inequality and encourage COVID testing and vaccinations for the city of Boston. 

She reiterated the importance of getting people the jab during Wednesday's press conference, saying she cared more about vaccination rates increasing than showing 'proof.' 

'If vaccine passports were imposed today with a government mandate to ban unvaccinated residents from venues like restaurants or gyms that would shut out nearly 40% of East Boston and 60% of Mattapan,' she said.

'Instead of shutting people out, shutting out our neighbors who are disproportionately poor people of color, we are knocking on their doors to build trust and to expand access to the life-saving vaccines'.    

Janey still addressed the fact that the emphasis should be on the vaccination rates rather than the proof of vaccination 

Sixty percent of Boston residents are fully vaccinated, according to the Boston Public Health Commission, and 67 percent have at least one dose of either Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, which requires just one jab.

But Covid-19 cases are still climbing across Massachusetts.

The seven-day average is about 572 cases, up 900 percent from 64 cases on June 25, according to WHDH.

Hospitalizations in the state rose over the past two weeks to nearly 200 from 80.

On Sunday, Boston officials warned that 60 percent of new COVID cases have been in people 20 to 39 years old.