Study finds citywide vaccine mandates ineffective

A study published Wednesday by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center found that COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by cities were ineffective at increasing vaccinations and decreasing hospitalizations and deaths.

The researchers looked at CDC data on initial doses injected between December 2020 and April 2022 in nine cities: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

“We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, COVID-19 cases, or COVID-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” concluded the researchers.

The study recalled a quote from Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney introducing the city’s vaccine mandate, saying “the science is clear”:

“[Indoor vaccination mandates] are critical to slowing the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more dangerous and transmissible than earlier forms of the virus. The science is clear: these measures will protect Philadelphians and save lives.”

But the researchers found that the mandate did not, in fact, save lives.

“Using the synthetic difference-in-differences method, we find that indoor vaccine mandates had no significant impact on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, cases, or deaths across all nine cities that implemented the policy,” said the study.

“Most supporters of the mandates claim that the associated increase in vaccination rates, and its implied reduction in the spread of COVID-19, outweigh the cost of the disruptions. However, we find that the effects of the mandates on their intended outcomes are not statistically noticeable in any of the cities they were implemented in all empirical strategies used,” the researchers addd.

Instead, the mandates caused “large disruptions” for residents and businesses.

“Our findings put into question the efficacy of city-level vaccine mandates,” the researchers found. “Indoor vaccine mandates caused large disruptions for many individuals and businesses. New York City, for example, fired 1,430 city workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate. A survey found that over 90% of NYC restaurants reported having customer-related challenges, such as losing customers who objected to the mandate, and 75% having staff-related challenges. Those are just a small fraction of the disruptions caused by the mandates.”

A large-scale study published this month conclusively found that mask mandates, too, did not save lives, because masks are ineffective at stopping the coronavirus.