San Francisco is the first city in California — and possibly in the U.S. — to tell its employees to either get the COVID vaccine or get fired. The ruling affects all 35,000 city employees, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
Advocates for Black employees were quick to criticize the mandate, saying it could be more discriminatory to Black employees than others. While the vaccines are currently being administered under an emergency use authorization, employees will have 10 weeks to get the shots after the FDA approves at least one of the three currently being used.
Officials said they expected those approvals to come soon. Vaccination status will be kept in the city’s payroll system. Police and firefighters are included in the mandate, but teachers — who actually work for the school district — are not.
SOURCES:
San Francisco Chronicle June 23, 2021
San Francisco Chronicle June 24, 2021