Do you need a jab to hail a cab?

With shared vehicles running mostly Petri dishes, epidemiologists say it would be “wise” to require drivers and passengers of taxis and other taxis to be vaccinated.

“I would definitely be in favor of that,” Dr Barun Mathema, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told The Post.

The risk of transmitting the coronavirus while traveling by car can be ‘uncomfortably high’, depending on factors such as the length of the journey, wearing a mask, the speed at which the virus is spreading in the community and, most importantly , whether the windows are open or closed.

As it gets colder, Mathema said, runners “just won’t want” to keep the windows open.

He called for “creative solutions” to promote vaccinated, short-term trips, perhaps including discounts for vaccinated drivers, incentives for drivers or some sort of opt-in system for. the jabbed.

“There has to be coordination,” he said. “And it has to come from the government,” or a rideshare company could lose business by beating others with a warrant.

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission told The Post that while drivers and drivers must mask themselves, none of them are subject to vaccine requirements, like some city employees and of State. He declined to comment on a warrant.

An Uber representative said the company is not requiring jabs at this time, but is promoting the vaccines to drivers and drivers.

Lyft co-founder John Zimmer said in an interview with CNBC that the company is considering a vaccine mandate, but for now will stick to masks.

The two Silicon Valley darlings who kill taxis are demanding that passengers agree to use their apps to hide themselves and keep windows down before each ride.

But Andrew Burgie, assistant researcher at NYU’s School of Global Public Health, said these steps were only “the best thing you can do until something better comes along” – namely, the vaccine. Now that the snapshots are easy and free to obtain, he said it didn’t make sense to rely on what he called “secondary checks”.

“It would make sense to have a warrant,” he said. “If everyone were vaccinated, we wouldn’t necessarily need to worry about masks. “