Michelle Wu says ‘hatred and fear and confusion’ motivating opposition to vaccine mandate changes

Mayor Michelle Wu fired back at people pushing back on the city’s tightening vaccine mandates, saying that the opposition is based in “hatred and fear and confusion” — and that she’s been the target of bigoted vitriol over the move.

Wu, speaking on Boston Public Radio’s call-in “Ask the Mayor” segment on Wednesday, was reflecting on the chaotic press conference Monday where she announced that various businesses in the city would need to require proof of vaccination, and that the city would be tightening its vaccine requirement for municipal workers.

“It was quite a powerful event to be standing in the seat of city governments surrounded by mayors and executives from cities across the region, experts from the public health side, from industries that are affected, to say, ‘We are going to do this together, we’re taking a big step to protect all of us’ — and then to have the event happen over the very loud and constant chants,” Wu said.

She also noted the “singing of patriotic songs, chanting of ‘USA,’” which she said was “just a clear message that there’s still a part of our society, even in this state, even in this city, that really feels like something is being taken away.”

“That’s based on misinformation,” Wu continued. “It’s based in, I think it’s at some level hatred and fear and confusion, but to have that presented as this is the patriotic way and everyone else who says differently — the people of color who owned restaurants who were standing with us, the newly elected elected officials — don’t belong here aren’t part of this, this country and what we represent — that’s completely backwards.”

Starting next month, bars, gyms and other establishments will need to require proof of vaccination. Wu’s changes also included amending the city’s worker vaccine mandate to get rid of the ability of workers to provide weekly evidence of a negative test rather than getting the shot. That’s led to pushback from a first-responder group that’s threatening legal action.

Wu added that there are “constant calls associating me with the same hateful, racist, xenophobic language that the former president used and describing the virus and its origins and who was to blame.”

This all does come amid the reality that omicron is spreading like wildfire, and Wednesday brought the largest single-day number of new reported cases that the state has yet seen. Some reports have suggested that omicron might be somewhat less severe than previous variants, but the virus continues to send people to the hospital and, in rarer cases, the grave.