Boston Mayor Issues Vaccine-Or-Test Mandate For City Employees

BOSTON, MA — All 18,000 Boston city employees will need to verify a coronavirus vaccination or submit to weekly virus testing under a mandate Mayor Kim Janey unveiled on Thursday.

"We need to ensure that our hospital capacity, which is our capacity to save lives, remains below the capacity (limits)," Janey said during a news conference. "The best way to do that is by getting people vaccinated."

Under Janey's proposal, all city employees must attest to their vaccination status by the end of the month with the vaccination-or-test protocol taking effect on Sept. 20 for public-facing employees — including teachers — and all employees by Oct. 18.

She said the city will make vaccinations available for anyone willing to get them over that time throughout the city, and will make testing available at City Hall and other locations for those who do not get vaccinated once the mandate takes effect.

"Our purpose is to protect employees and protect the public," she said.

Boston is the first city in the state to implement a vaccine-or-test policy for city workers, although Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said this week that city is negotiating a similar requirement for municipal and school employees that would require twice-weekly testing for the non-vaccinated.

Janey said that while coronavirus cases have increased in the city in recent weeks, hospitalizations remain low with an average of 67 patients per day — a sign she said that the vaccines work. She said there were 135 coronavirus hospitalizations in May when restrictions eased, 400 in January and 1,400 in April 2020.

Asked about possible "vaccine passports" like New York City is implementing, Janey noted that only about 50 percent of some populations in the city are currently vaccinated: "To suggest that half of Black residents in the city couldn't go to a grocery store is insane."

Asked about vaccine requirements for non-essential businesses — such as theaters or sporting arenas — she said: "Should we get to the point where we need to do that in large venuses, I would absolutely do that. But what I will not do is politicize the pandemic."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)