MassLive January 14, 2022;

Northampton officials ultimately chose not to vote on a vaccine mandate for bars, restaurants and other indoor businesses Thursday night.

Some members of the city’s Board of Health questioned whether there was thorough data to show that a vaccine requirement would curb the transmission of COVID-19 in the indoor spaces. The measure also would have been enforced by individual workers, a burden that would have weighed heavily on already struggling employees, some health board members said.

There is still limited data to show that COVID is commonly spread in bars or restaurants, rather than through households or social gatherings, according to Public Health Director Merridith O’Leary.

“We always make policies that are data driven and evidence based,” she said. “And I would hate for us to make a policy that would have such a huge negative unintended consequence.”

Board member Suzanne Smith, a physician who spent 22 years as an infectious diseases and public health expert with the Centers for Disease Control, also questioned how effective the policy would be on Northampton’s population.

“What proportion of the population at this point in time is going to restaurants and bars and fitness centers?” she asked. “It’s certainly not a majority. So if you’re imposing these mandates on a small sector like that, what’s the overall impact in the population?”

Apparently, this BOH does not just blindly follow state lead, good for them. If a doctor is questioning that kind of policy, it should not be wrong for me to do the same.