San Francisco will require all city employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19: report
Refusal to do so without proper exemption could reportedly result in termination
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The city of San Francisco will mandate all city employees to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
City officials announced the move on Wednesday, saying it was made in the interest of its more than 33,000 workers, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
The policy reportedly makes the Northern California hub the first city or county in the state and likely across the country to do so.
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Earlier this month, the city ordered that all employees working in high-risk settings like hospitals and jails would need to be fully vaccinated with "limited exemptions and within a specified timeframe."
The Chronicle notes that the new vaccination policy does not cover teachers employed by school districts and that any city workers who refuse to be vaccinated without a proper medical or religious exemption could potentially be fired from their jobs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Martin Auzenne, 73, left, receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot from a health care worker at a vaccination site in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. (Credit: AP Photo/Haven Daley)
The employees reportedly have 10 weeks after the FDA approves a vaccine to get the shots and, starting next week, 30 days to report their current vaccination status with proof using the city's payroll system.
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccines are currently under emergency use authorization by the agency.
According to the Chronicle, the San Francisco Department of Human Resources also said that more than half of city employees have claimed to be at least partially vaccinated.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Our reasoning is simple: It has to do with protecting the safety and health of all of our employees, as well as the public that we serve," Carol Isen, the city's director of human resources, told KCBS Radio on Wednesday.
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In May, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that U.S. companies could require that employees in a workplace must be vaccinated against the deadly virus.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that vaccines are not mandated by the FDA under emergency use authorizations, but adds that "whether a state, local government, or employer, for example, may require or mandate COVID-19 vaccination is a matter of state or other applicable law."
In addition, both the University of California and California State University systems have said they would implement vaccination requirements upon FDA approval.
In this May 21, 2021, file photo, fans sit shoulder to shoulder in a vaccinated section of the stands during the fourth inning of a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in San Francisco. California, the first state in America to put in place a coronavirus lockdown, is now turning a page on the pandemic. (Credit: AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron)
More than 70% of California residents are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 – largely in the Bay Area – and the city of San Francisco has introduced incentive programs, like complimentary tickets to a San Francisco Giants game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A CDC map per state shows more than 41.7 million total doses administered in California thus far, as more and more cases of the aggressive Delta variant are reported.
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In a June 11 news release, Mayor London Breed announced that 80% of eligible San Francisco residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 70% of all San Franciscans fully vaccinated.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ninety percent of all residents 65 and older have received at least one dose, the statement said.
California fully reopened its economy after 15 months of coronavirus restrictions on June 15.
The San Francisco Department of Human Resources and Breed's office did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment.