PEABODY, MA —While it’s not difficult to find myriad policy differences between North Shore state lieutenant governor candidates Leah Allen (R-Danvers) and Kim Driscoll (D-Salem) one of the biggest has been the government’s role in mandating COVID-19 vaccinations over the past 18 months.
As Driscoll proposed and supported vaccination requirements for Salem municipal and school employees, for entry into public-facing hospitality and fitness business for a time early last winter and said in her mayoral re-election campaign last fall she would “definitely be open to a vaccine mandate” for Salem public school students, Allen refused to comply with a vaccine mandate for health care workers — costing her a job as a registered nurse at Beverly Hospital — and is now calling for the end to all vaccination requirements for state public workers.
“I am just one of many people who made a personal choice about the safety of vaccines, and who lost my job as a result,” said the former state representative for Peabody. “Individuals who lost their jobs include not just health care workers, but also first responders, teachers, and many other state workers.
“Collectively, these individuals expressed a desire to use caution when it came to getting a COVID shot, but they were told they had no right to exercise choice in that regard. In many cases, those in power used ‘science’ to justify their demands.”
Allen, who gained the Republican nomination as lieutenant governor in a joint ticket with former State Rep. Geoff Diehl, called on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey and Driscoll to “publicly pledge that they will immediately end and not re-institute any state-level mandates.”
While the Salem proof-of-vaccination entry requirement lasted only seven weeks before the Board of Health lifted it amid declining cases in January — as a program rewarding $500 to industry workers who were vaccinated and worked through the mandate was still being rolled out — and a formal proposition on a student vaccination requirement was ultimately not implemented for this school year, a spokesperson for the Driscoll campaign told Patch on Wednesday that she “will work with Governor Healey to engage public health experts to make decisions about COVID response needs based on updated data, science and medicine.”
Allen’s campaign said that the Republican ticket is not anti-vaccine — Diehl said he has been vaccinated — but that the ticket is opposed to “requiring that those who are unwilling to become vaccinated submit to state-mandated shots, especially as a condition of employment, learning, or enjoying public accommodations and transit.”
“Vaccination should be a personal choice, never a mandate,” Allen said.
Driscoll said in a debate during last year’s Salem mayoral race against City Councilor Steve Dibble — which she won with nearly 60 percent of the vote — that “unless everybody is vaccinated we’ll continue to have disrupted education occurring in our community” and therefore she supported the mandate for city employees, school staff and potentially all students in the classroom.
Salem Public Schools did put a vaccine mandate in place last year for students who participated in “high-respiration extracurricular activities” such as sports, band and drama.
As Salem mayor, Driscoll is also the Chair of the School Committee.
Driscoll was quick to endorse Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s vaccine requirement for customers and employees to enter non-essential, public-facing business such as bars, restaurants, gyms, fitness centers and entertainment venues last December and proposed a similar measure in Salem.
“Vaccine requirements, testing and masking up indoors are all part of the mix when it comes to beating back COVID,” Driscoll said at the time.
But very few other cities and towns across the state followed Boston and Salem’s lead on the shot requirements, and the Salem Board of Health dropped the mandate in a Feb. 8 vote that was just three weeks after the Jan. 15 deadline for the non-essential public-facing business employees and customers to get their first dose or be denied entry or employment.
“We will continue to respond to the data and never lose sight of our primary goal: Keeping Salem safe, open, and strong,” Driscoll posted in response to the Feb. 8 end of the requirement.
The statewide general election is Nov. 8.
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
Original source can be found here.
