Judge Temporarily Blocks Boston’s Vaccine Mandate For Certain First Responders

A judge on Tuesday blocked Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for certain first responders. Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Sabita Singh ruled that the vaccine requirement for members of three municipal labor unions, Boston Firefighters Local 718, Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, and the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, cannot be enforced until their ongoing legal challenge is resolved. “Given the limited harm to the city and the public health interest it seeks to promote, and the substantial harm likely to be sustained by the unions in the absence of an injunction, the balance of harms favors the issuance of an injunction to preserve the status quo, in view of the unions’ likelihood of success on the merits,” wrote Singh, the Boston Herald reported. While the mandate will not be enforced, unvaccinated workers must comply with an existing agreement to get tested for COVID-19 weekly. The judge added that “an …  » Read full article