Vaccine Mandates Issued for California and New York City Workers

Citing rising cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus, the state of California, New York City, and other entities nationwide announced they will roll out new requirements for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for public employees.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that every city government employee will be required to provide proof of vaccination or submit a weekly COVID-19 test.

New York City’s mandate will apply to roughly 340,000 city workers. The policy takes effect in mid-August for people who work in foster care, shelters, or senior centers and in September for the remaining city workforce, NPR reported.

Also on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his state “will have the strongest state vaccine verification system in the U.S. and will require state employees [and] health care workers to provide proof of vaccination—or get tested regularly.”

“We’re experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Everyone that can get vaccinated—should,” Newsom said.

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs will be the first government agency to set a vaccine mandate, NPR reported. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough announced on Monday that the department will require frontline medical employees who work in Veterans Health Administration facilities to get vaccinated. Each employee will have eight weeks to be fully vaccinated.

Also this week, more than 50 major health care groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, issued a joint statement calling for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated.