L.A. will require city employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing for the virus.
Los Angeles will require city employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing to show they have tested negative, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Nury Martinez announced Tuesday — a move they described as an initial step toward a vaccine mandate. The plan is expected to be rolled out through a mayoral order issued Wednesday, following a meeting of a city committee focused on employee relations. City departments will be directed to gather and report information about whether their employees are vaccinated by Aug.13, according to Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar. “The fourth wave is here, and the choice for Angelenos couldn’t be clearer — get vaccinated, or get COVID-19,” Garcetti said in a statement announcing the plan, urging other employers to follow the city’s example. Martinez said Angelenos who have stayed inside to protect themselves and others are “getting tired of putting our lives on hold to protect people who don’t want to protect themselves and get vaccinated.” As the biggest employer in the city, L.A. needs to set an example, she said. “This is us doing our part.” The announcement comes one day after California officials announced that state and healthcare employees will soon be required to show proof they’ve been vaccinated or undergo regular testing for COVID-19. New York City declared similar plans. San Francisco and Pasadena have also announced future vaccination requirements for their employees; both cities have hitched their requirements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granting formal approval to at least one of the COVID-19 vaccines now under emergency authorization. L.A. could eventually mandate COVID-19 vaccination for city employees without offering testing as an alternative; Garcetti and the City Council will pursue a vaccine mandate once the FDA grants full approval, the mayor’s office said in a statement. As the Delta variant has swept through Los Angeles and infection numbers have resurged, a growing number of L.A. politicians have argued that it is time for the city to impose such a requirement. Lagging vaccinations among police officers and firefighters have spurred particular concern because they interact regularly with the public. “Plain and simple — vaccinations are the only way out of this pandemic,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a statement late Monday, announcing that he would soon introduce a motion to draw up a policy requiring all city employeesto be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. “If we want our economy to fully recover, if we want our children to be able to go to school without masks on, and if we want the most vulnerable members of our community to not end up in the hospital, we must all do our part and this motion is a step in the right direction,” Ridley-Thomas said.
