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The Los Angeles County Superior Court, the nation’s largest court system, told employees on Thursday that they needed to get a full shot quickly once a coronavirus vaccine received final government approval, or risked it. to be terminated.
In a letter to some 5,000 court employees, senior executive Sherri Carter said staff will need to provide proof of vaccination no later than 45 days after the Federal Food and Drug Administration gives final approval to the court. ‘one of the vaccines available in the United States Those with health concerns or religious beliefs that prohibit vaccination will be eligible for exclusion from the mandate, but otherwise vaccination will be considered “a condition of employment”, she declared.
“Ultimately, unvaccinated employees without approved exclusions will be terminated,” Carter said. “Given the increasing number of cases fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant – and recognizing that unvaccinated employees are at greater risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 in the workplace, including the public who depends on court services – the court must take all available measures to protect against the virus.
To speed up their release amid the pandemic, the FDA has approved a handful of COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, a step short of full approval. The New York Times reported this week that the regulatory agency aims to give final approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine by early September.
The sweeping court order goes beyond those announced elsewhere, including in the city of Los Angeles and the state of California. Several jurisdictions have recently started requiring employees to choose between getting vaccinated or undergoing regular testing. Court workers were not offered any testing options and explicitly threatened to lose their jobs if they did not comply. LA County announced this week that it will require all employees to be fully immunized by October 1, but it did not specify penalties for non-compliance.
Masks will also continue to be mandatory in courts, Carter said.
Michael Ferreira, president of the union representing courtroom interpreters in California, said he was very concerned about Carter’s announced hard line.
“Our goal is that no one gets fired for this,” Ferreira said. “I don’t think if you are not vaccinated you should be fired. No other government agency does this.
He wondered why the mandatory 45-day window begins with full approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, when several are currently available.
“What if you have a different vaccine than the one that was approved?” Asked Ferreira.
The Los Angeles Superior Court ruling comes as California grapples with another spike in COVID-19 cases, driven in part by the Delta variant. The data shows, however, that although LA County has seen an increase in cases of the “breakthrough” coronaviruses – positive cases among those vaccinated – people who have received vaccines enjoy strong protections and are much less likely to be hospitalized for a serious illness.
The Los Angeles Superior Court has worked to prevent COVID-19 cases from the ranks of employees, lawyers and their clients, police and others who pass through its nearly two dozen palaces of justice. At least four people who worked in LA County courthouses have died after falling ill with COVID-19, and the court system recently reported positive cases among staff and judges.
Times editors James Queally and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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