Indoor vaccine mandates were implemented in several major cities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to boost vaccination rates and curb the spread of the virus.
However, a recent publication by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University questions the effectiveness of these mandates.
The study analyzed the impact of vaccine mandates in nine U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.
Vaccine mandates were among the most restrictive and polarizing regulations ever implemented in the U.S., with millions of people barred from entering public indoor spaces such as restaurants, bars, gyms, and theaters without proof of vaccination.
The authors note that these mandates “negatively affected unvaccinated individuals and businesses that were not allowed to serve unvaccinated customers.”
In New York City, for instance, more than 90% of restaurants reported losing customers who objected to the mandate, while 75% reported staff-related challenges.
Furthermore, over 1,400 city workers were fired for not complying with the mandate.
While previous research has indicated that country-level mandates increased vaccination rates significantly, city-level mandates are less difficult to avoid “because it is generally easier to travel to a neighboring city that does not have a mandate than to cross national borders.”
The study authors also found that indoor vaccine mandates had “no significant impact on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, cases, or deaths across all nine cities that implemented the policy,” further calling into question their legitimacy.
Supporters of the mandates claim that the benefits of increased vaccination rates outweigh the costs of the disruptions caused by the mandates. However, the study suggests that city-level mandates were less effective than nationwide mandates in achieving their intended objectives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health restrictions and regulations were widespread, and understanding their consequences is crucial.
The study’s findings suggest that city-level vaccine mandates had a smaller effect on vaccination rates, COVID-19 cases, and deaths than nationwide mandates, and therefore “failed to achieve their intended objectives.”
Read the full study below:
