Melrose May Explore Vaccine Mandate For City Employees

MELROSE, MA — No further restrictions aside from the mask mandate are in the city's immediate future, but Melrose's top health official did not rule out things like a vaccine mandate for city employees as the pandemic stretches on.

The City Council on Monday night spent more than 20 minutes speaking to Health Director Anthony Chui before councilors were sworn in for their new terms. Some members expressed concern the city's rules weren't consistent or strict enough as COVID-19 metrics explode across Melrose and the rest of the country.

Chui at one point advocated for requiring city workers to report their vaccination status and said the city is at least exploring a vaccine mandate.

Asked by Councilor Jen Grigoraitis why city workers in the schools must show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing, but no such requirement exists for city workers at places like the library or senior center, Chui said it's being discussed.

"We've come up to a point where we're separating the schools and the community," he said. "And I think one of the conversations that we're having, especially internally, is whether or not that's sustainable.

"And I think as part of our community I think we need to look to mandate at least the vaccination information and make sure that we understand what that looks like within City Hall and within our employees," Chui continued. "That's definitely one of the conversations we're having right now is to see if we can get that information. Also looking to see what a vaccine mandate might look like."

Pressed by Grigoraitis on when a decision could come since the highly contagious omicron variant has already been here for weeks, Chui said it won't be long.

"I don't believe we're going to be dragging this out much further because we have a 13 percent positivity rate here in Melrose," he said. "So this is definitely a priority for us."

Councilor Jack Eccles said he worries people who aren't vaccinated might begin seeking employment in Melrose due to vaccine mandates in other places.

"I'd like to see Melrose be a place where everyone who works here feel safe and works with people that they can trust," he said.

Some other topics Chui touched on:

• The city is well vaccinated, but has a lot of room to grow in its booster rate.
• The city is looking to change its definition of fully vaccinated to someone who either has gotten their booster or are within six months of their last Pfizer or Moderna dose or within two months of Johnson & Johnson.
• The city is not considering indoor capacity limits.
• The city is in talks with pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens and with the state regarding potential testing options that are specific to the Melrose area.
• The city cannot enter reported at-home antigen positive tests into the system, only PCR tests, so the reported COVID-19 numbers are not fully representative of the actual number of positive cases.
• The city will try to host more vaccine and booster clinics.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi and Instagram at Melrose Happening. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook