Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday that the majority of the city’s indoor spaces — including restaurants, gyms and entertainment centers — will require proof of vaccination for entry beginning in early 2022. This announcement coming as health leaders are warning about the rapid spread of the omicron variant.
Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, director of Boston University’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research, and Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, joined Jim Braude on Greater Boston to discuss.
Bhadelia said that measures like vaccine passports and mandates can go a long way in both protecting public health and continuing to keep society open. “Better late than never. I think we should have done this awhile ago,” she said.
“For the remaining people that haven’t taken the vaccines, measures like this will push them, give them one more reason potentially to take that shot,” she continued. “And in the grander scheme of things, with the omicron variant, that greater amount of protection means fewer people who are unvaccinated that might end up in the hospital.”
Faust weighed in on whether state and federal leaders should enact new mask mandates. “Yes, I think a mask mandate would help,” he said, noting that he was disappointed that White House indicated they wouldn’t have new regulations for vaccinated people. “That’s got to be on the table. There should be no non-starters. We need everything to be a possibility.”
WATCH: Doctors praise Boston’s vaccine mandate and passports
