San Francisco Requires City Workers to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

More than 35,000 San Francisco municipal workers, including custodial and maintenance staff, must receive COVID-19 vaccines once they are fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or risk being fired, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) advised last month that companies were within their rights to require employees to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier this month, San Francisco officials announced employees working in high-risk settings—including hospitals, nursing homes, and jails—must be fully vaccinated with “limited exemptions and within a specified timeframe.” The new policy extends this requirement to city workers and will make San Francisco the first city to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for all government employees, with an exception of teachers since they are school district employees, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

A letter posted on the city’s Department of Human Resources webpage read that once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approves COVID-19 vaccines, all municipal employees must get vaccinated within 10 weeks. Exceptions will be made for medical and religious reasons.

Currently the three FDA emergency vaccines are made by Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. Pfizer submitted its FDA full approval application on May 7 and Moderna on June 1. The FDA is expected to fully approve them within the coming months.

“It’s really a decision for the health and safety of our employees and our public that we serve,” said Carol Isen, San Francisco director of human resources. “It’s about protecting the city as an employer from what we deem to be unacceptable risk.”

All employees have until July 29 to report their current vaccination status, including proof of vaccination, to the city’s payroll system.

San Francisco has previously terminated workers because they refused to wear masks and Isen told KNTV-TV that the city will not hesitate to enforce the new rules. “In order to allow our employees who have been vaccinated…to work unmasked we have to know their status,” Isen said.

Isen hopes to work with unions to encourage employees to get vaccinated ahead of the mandate. The city is expected to meet with unions this week to discuss the policy, according to USA Today. As workers’ compensation claims from city employees due to coronavirus has caused San Francisco close to US$3 million, Isen believes the new policy will protect employees and save taxpayers money.