San Jose firefighters and police are pushing back against the plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for city employees by the end of the month.
Matt Tuttle, president of San Jose Firefighters Local 230 explained to the San Jose Spotlight that the opposition is not based in anti-vaccination theories, but instead is because they believe no person should lose their job based on vaccination status.
"Our message has been consistent through all of this process," Tuttle said. "While we strongly encourage all of our members to be vaccinated, we are against a vaccine mandate. We do not believe anyone should be terminated over the vaccine."
The city announced on Wednesday that it will enforce a vaccine mandate by Sept. 30 for all 7,500 San Jose city employees.
Employees will no longer be able to submit weekly COVID-19 tests in place of vaccination proof, however, they may be exempt from this mandate for medical or religious reasons. If workers refuse to get vaccinated without an approved exemption they could be fired, the city warned.
San Jose firefighters were joined by the Alameda County Firefighters Local 55 group in opposition of the mandate, which has been proposed in neighboring cities as well. Alameda fire officials originally released a statement against a vaccination mandate in mid-August, the newspaper reported.
Details of how San Jose will handle enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine have yet to be worked out.
Related
