Santa Clara County employees who work in high-risk settings have until Monday to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a booster shot.
The mandate, which was ordered last month as the omicron variant took hold across the Bay Area, includes county employees who work in jails, health care facilities and congregate shelters, as well as firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
If they don’t get vaccinated, employees can be reassigned outside of higher-risk settings.
“The local order is a limited measure that’s intended to focus on protecting vulnerable populations that these workers interact with,” Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams said, adding that booster doses are “readily available” and “absolutely critical” for workers in high-risk settings.
County officials set up a waiver process for employees who refuse to comply. Up to now, 40 county firefighters have applied for the waiver.
Meanwhile, the Valley Transportation Authority is still seeking to implement its own vaccine mandate. Employees would be required to be vaccinated within 60 days of its implementation, or else they’d be fired without a religious or medical exemption.
The agency hoped to enforce the policy beginning this week, but the VTA continues to negotiate with union leaders over a few key points. Agency spokesperson Stacy Hendler Ross told KCBS Radio the unions are asking for a testing option, which is “not a consideration in this situation.”
"People rely on us to get around to school, and work and doctors' appointments," Hendler Ross said in an interview. "And so we need to make sure that our employees are as healthy and as safe as they can possibly be."
Sixty-one percent of VTA employees are fully vaccinated, she said. Across the county, 83.3% of residents had been fully vaccinated as of Monday, and 62.4% percent of eligible residents had received a booster dose.