Kim Janey, the acting mayor of Boston, is one of several candidates running for mayor in the city election this fall. State House News Service Photo by Katie Lannan.
Will there be a coronavirus vaccine mandate for the roughly 18,000 city of Boston employees soon?
It’s a possibility, acting Mayor Kim Janey said.
Janey said Thursday this week that she is “actively working toward” a vaccine mandate and will have an announcement next week.
“We have done the outreach and the calls, and the response has been positive. I believe we all share the concern about the Delta variant, and we all want to protect ourselves,” Janey said during a press conference Thursday, August 5, according to State House News Service. “We are working toward a plan starting with our back to school for our school staff and teachers and others who are working with populations who may be unvaccinated. We will have more to share next week on that.”
Janey noted that the plan may include having unvaccinated employees submitting to regular coronavirus testing.
She also said that the city has no metrics on how many of its employees are vaccinated already. However, as of July 27, she said, about 67 percent of Bostonians had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
During the press conference, Janey also implied that there would be a religious exemption if she enacts a vaccine mandate.
“We need to have a rigorous testing program in place to make sure if there are any unvaccinated employees due to religious beliefs or other items that we continue to protect our workforce,” Janey said. “The goal, however, is to get all of our city workers vaccinated. That is the best protection against this deadly virus, and the Delta variant is not to be played with.”
The news comes after Janey said last week that she was “leaning toward” establishing a vaccine mandate for city employees.
Other elected officials in Massachusetts have already ordered their employees to get vaccinated. That includes the state auditor, state treasurer, and state attorney general, according to State House News Service.
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Kim Janey, the acting mayor of Boston, is one of several candidates running for mayor in the city election this fall. State House News Service Photo by Katie Lannan. 
