SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The mayor of Sacramento is applauding the newly announced vaccine mandate for state workers, and he said Sacramento may follow suit as state and local leaders are now talking tough when it comes to the unvaccinated.
"You're putting other people's innocent lives at risk," said Governor Gavin Newsom. "You're putting businesses at risk. You're putting at risk the ability to educate our kids by getting them back in person full time. No more zoom schools. We want to keep our economy moving. Your choice not to get vaccinated comes at a real societal cost."
California health officials say the vaccine verification and testing program will be implemented for all state employees and health care workers starting in August.
Workers will need to have evidence of vaccination by Aug. 2. Any state employees who are unvaccinated will have to undergo mandated COVID-19 testing and wear masks.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg applauded the measure on Twitter and is now proposing the measure here.
"I completely agree with the Governor, and I think we should apply it to the city of Sacramento as well," he said.
The mayor would need to meet with labor partners and and get council approval, but he said this is all matter of life and death- not individual rights.
"One's rights stop when they run head long into affecting the health, wellbeing and lives of many other people," Steinberg said.
The Governor's office said they want to see departments moving on these new rules over the next 10 days, and they expect full compliance by the end of August. Meanwhile, Mayor Steinberg said he's hopeful a city mandate won't be required.
"Maybe people will get the message and the vaccination rates will continue to climb steadily," he said.
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