EDITORIAL ROUNDUP
Dec. 21 Boston Globe A path back to normal
If it takes the incentive of a movie or a burger and a beer for the unvaccinated to comply, then bring it on.
When lives are on the line, difficult decisions are made easier.
Make no mistake, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday for a host of new indoor venues and for all city employees was no political walk in the park. And as if to prove the point, a loud gaggle of anti-vax demonstrators gathered to protest the move at City Hall even as Wu was introducing it.
But when hospitalizations are rising — up 89 percent compared to two weeks ago — and the city is averaging 369 new cases a day, it’s the responsible move. Along with the city’s mask mandate and increasing opportunities for people to be tested for the virus, vaccination requirements are a necessary part of the city’s tool kit.
Skeptics have only to look at the even more difficult decisions being made across Europe where lockdowns have either been ordered (the Netherlands) or are on the table (Britain).
And closer to home, universities and teams in the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association are already wrestling with COVID-related shutdowns and cancellations.
In Boston the vast majority of COVID-related hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated, the mayor noted.
“Our essential workers have been on the front lines of fighting this pandemic for more than 650 days,” Wu said. “And it’s time for Boston to follow the science and public health data to ease their burden and to take the big steps that we can to help close vaccination gaps.”
She acknowledged that “this is just one step,” adding, “but given where we are at this moment, it’s a necessary one.”
And so, beginning Jan. 15, all patrons and employees of indoor restaurants and bars, gyms and fitness centers, and entertainment, recreational, and event venues will have to show proof of at least the first round of vaccination. That gets bumped up to proof of full (two-shot) vaccination on Feb. 15 for those age 12 and over. The policy will apply to children ages 5-11 for the first dose on March 1 and sets May 1 for full vaccination.
Given that only 30% of the city’s 5- to 11-year-olds are vaccinated, as Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, put it Monday, “We can and we must do better than this.”
When New York City implemented its vaccine mandate for indoor venues, vaccinations rose by 9% in one month, she added.
Boston is also ending its dual policy for city workers, which had allowed some to opt for testing instead of vaccination. Full vaccination on the same timetable “will be a condition of employment for the City of Boston,” Wu said, adding that about 90% of the city’s workforce is already vaccinated.
Many of the city’s largest entertainment and sports venues and at least a handful of restaurants have already implemented their own vax-mandate policies as a way of bringing patrons back and making them feel safer. But the city’s new policy will level that playing field, adding movie theaters, bowling alleys, and party and event spaces to the mix.
The mayor also promises a new app in the days ahead to make it more convenient to show that newly important proof of vaccination.
But there is still the Christmas and New Year season to get through, and even by Jan. 15 indoor dining will come with no ironclad guarantees of being risk-free.
A public health order is not a magic wand; it will not make the dangers of COVID disappear in the new year.
The key to making the policy work — for as many people in this state as possible — is extending its reach. With a governor who refuses to implement a statewide mask mandate, extending an indoor vaccine mandate statewide seems even more unlikely.
So the kind of regional compact Wu has begun to build remains the next best option. After all, public health emergencies don’t end at the Boston line or the Charles River. So it’s important that officials from Cambridge, Brookline, Arlington, Medford, Salem, and Somerville have all committed to bringing their communities on board with similar policies, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council has stepped up to work with cities and towns within the region on implementation.
“This is not about anyone’s conveniences,” Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said at Monday’s news conference. “It’s the unvaccinated who are killing us right now … How many more lives will we have to lose?”
Absent that magic wand, Wu has managed to strike a balance with a policy that is practical without being punitive, that provides one more incentive for the unvaccinated to do the right thing, even if it’s only to be able to go to a movie or have a burger and a beer out with friends.
The promise of a return to something approaching normal — which seemed within reach last spring — has proved more elusive in recent days. Vaccine mandates can bring us further along on that path.