City Council members join Mayor Steinberg's push for city employee vaccine requirement
Sacramento (Aug. 20, 2021) -- The Sacramento City Council will immediately require employees under its purview, including charter officers, to be vaccinated against COVID-19. With strong Council backing, the City is also moving quickly toward a vaccination requirement for all of its 5,000-plus City employees.
Councilmembers Mai Vang and Katie Valenzuela joined Mayor Darrell Steinberg in making the announcement that unrepresented City Council employees would be vaccinated and reiterating the urgent need for unionized City employees to be vaccinated as well. The City’s labor relations team is currently negotiating with labor organizations representing Police, Fire, and non-public safety workers.
City Council employees who are not yet vaccinated will be required to upload proof of their first dose by Sept. 1 and subsequently update the record when they receive the second dose. There will be limited exceptions for medical or religious reasons.
The elected officials appeared with members of the Sacramento Alliance for Vaccine Equity (SAVE) Coalition at a press conference on the site of a vaccine clinic that the coalition has run for six months at the Pannell Community Center in Meadowview. The SAVE Coalition is comprised of 25 partners, including local government offices, faith leaders, community-based organizations, advocacy groups, and South Sacramento cultural and ethnic organizations.
Megan Sapigao, Co-Chair of the Sacramento A/PI Regional Network, a SAVE Coalition partner organization, urged City employees to get vaccinated. “As organizations and community leaders who have seen what this virus does to our most vulnerable members, we’re desperately counting on the rest of the public to get vaccinated in order to protect those who can’t,” said Sapigao. “Vaccines are safe, they’re life-saving, and they are the key to community care.”
“As a City, we have to lead,” said Councilmember Mai Vang. “While our community partners are on the ground advocating for vaccinations, we must take responsibility for ensuring that our own City staff are vaccinated. With more than half of our public safety personnel unvaccinated, it means that our frontline defense has no defense. We must do what we can to protect the health of our community.”
“I fully support a City mandate to ensure that all city staff are vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Councilmember Katie Valenzuela. “My nephew, who is too young to be vaccinated, was just diagnosed with COVID-19, and my sister also with a breakthrough case, due to the irresponsible actions of an adult who could have taken better precautions.
With our case numbers spiking again due to a more contagious variant, it is more important than ever to make sure public health is our first priority moving forward. Being a city employee is all about keeping our city safe and healthy, and this mandate is an easy way for us to make sure we're hitting that mark. I stand with my colleagues in this effort to keep all of our constituents in good health.”
