LYNN — Mayor Jared Nicholson announced Wednesday night during a COVID-19 forum held via Zoom that the city will not be implementing a vaccine passport requirement similar to ones implemented by the cities of Boston and Salem, citing rising vaccination rates in Lynn.
Nicholson said that while he applauded those communities, Lynn would not be implementing vaccine passports, citing that the purpose of the passports is to encourage vaccinations and that Lynn’s rates are continuing to rise even without the implementation of vaccine passports.
“Our team thought that one of the goals of vaccine passports is to encourage people to get vaccinated,” said Nicholson. “I applaud our fellow communities but our vaccination rates here are continuing to increase.”
Lynn Public Health Director Michele Desmarais presented Lynn’s vaccination and test data at the forum. As of Jan. 15, 80,104 residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, 70,206 residents are considered fully vaccinated and 24,121 residents have received a booster shot. Lynn has administered 18,668 tests from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15, and 30.92 percent of the tests came back with positive results.
Nicholson’s decision to veer away from implementing a vaccine-passport system in Lynn represents a change of course from Nicholson’s thinking last month. In December, on the same day that Boston implemented its vaccine mandate, Nicholson and former Mayor Thomas M. McGee issued a joint statement saying the City of Lynn was considering a similar passport system, which would require people to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues.
Elsewhere, the City of Somerville’s Board of Health rejected a vaccine mandate last week.
During Wednesday’s forum, Nicholson was joined by Desmarais; Dr. Barbara Lambl, Salem Hospital infectious disease specialist; Dr. Christine Valdes, Salem Hospital/North Shore Physicians Group physician and medical director of diversity, equity and inclusion; Dr. Hanna Haptu, Lynn Community Health Center’s infectious disease specialist and Dr. Clark Van Den Berghe, a physician for Lynn Community Health Center.
“This is an important moment for our city and we are still in it,” said Nicholson. “We are still pushing to keep people safe. We are viewing the number of cases and we know this is a tough issue for many.”
At the beginning of the forum, Lambl and Haptu addressed reports of a general decrease of COVID-19 cases across the Commonwealth and the east coast of the U.S.
Lambl said while it was true that cases were decreasing, there are still many people in Lynn that are testing positive for COVID-19.
“Yes there has been a dip in the last 14 days, but locally in Essex County, I don’t see it happening as drastically as it is in other parts of Massachusetts,” said Lambl. “The omicron variant has hit us hard and we have not turned the corner just yet.”
“There is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel but there are places where it (COVID-19) is still raging,” Haptu added.
Van Den Berghe said the most effective way to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is to get a vaccine.
“If you are not vaccinated, go get vaccinated,” he said. “If you are eligible, go get a booster dose.”
Along with presenting vaccination data, Nicholson presented data collected from an online survey posted last week. The survey found that more people were concerned about testing accessibility rather than vaccine availability.
In response to the data, Nicholson announced that he, along with the City Council, are seeking to order 50,000 test kits as soon as possible.
“This would be about 100,000 tests in total,” Nicholson said. “We are working as quickly as possible to get them into the hands of residents.”