LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva Says He Won’t Enforce Vaccination Warrant In His Agency

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said this week he did not plan to apply a vaccine warrant to the department.

The reason: he said he didn’t want to lose a significant number of his staff.

The mandate requires all Los Angeles County employees to be fully immunized by Oct. 1 and only provides for exemptions for religious and medical reasons.

Villanueva, a Democrat, told guest host Raymond Arroyo on “The Ingraham Angle” on Friday that hundreds of sheriff’s employees said they would be willing to lose their jobs rather than get vaccinated – and Los Angeles has too many crises like the upsurge in homelessness. population so that it loses more deputies.

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He said the sheriff’s department was being politically targeted with a hiring freeze after it had already been cut by more than 1,000 employees.

“It’s so politicized, I cannot in good conscience impose a mandate like that,” he said.

He called the mandate “poorly thought out, poorly executed”.

“I won’t be a part of this,” he told Arroyo.

He added that he is vaccinated and encourages the sheriff’s employees to get theirs but he does not want to impose it. The Sheriff’s Department employs approximately 18,000 workers.

The warrant was issued by decree in August.

In July, Villanueva said he would not apply a county mask warrant that was reinstated after an increase in the Delta variant, saying it was not “backed by science.”

More than 26,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the country.

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Of the county’s roughly 10 million people, 78% have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 69% are fully vaccinated, according to public health officials.

Despite the drop in the number of cases, the city of Los Angeles has just approved one of the most stringent vaccination mandates in the country that requires anyone to visit a bar, restaurant, mall, salon, or hospital. gym and many other places to get vaccinated.