Hahn, Kuehl call for vaccine, testing mandate for LA County employees

Mirroring moves by the state and cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Sheila Kuehl will ask their colleagues next week to approve a policy requiring all 100,000 county employees to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.

“We have a responsibility to protect our employees, the residents who depend on them and lead by example,” Hahn wrote in a Twitter post Tuesday announcing the motion, which will go before the board next week.

If approved, the motion would ask the county CEO, attorneys and Department of Human Resources to develop a vaccination policy for employees within 15 days, requiring them “to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or be tested at least once per week.”

“To protect the public and increase our vaccination rates, it is important that Los Angeles County have a vaccination policy for its workforce of approximately 100,000 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and explore the feasibility of requiring contractors to follow this policy as well,” the motion states. “With increasing spread of the Delta variant, the Board of Supervisors must also take the common-sense and important step of requiring county health-care workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Too many of our residents have already lost their lives to this virus, and we must do everything we can to protect their health.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom previously announced that all state employees and all workers at public and private health-care facilities in California will be required to be vaccinated or get tested at least once per week.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia last week announced similar policies for their municipal employees. The city of Pasadena previously announced plans to implement a vaccine requirement for workers.

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