The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

CA mandates COVID vaccine proof for state employees, healthcare workers

by •

LOS ANGELES – All state employees and all workers at hospitals and healthcare facilities across California will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination under a state policy announced Monday, and those who are unable or refuse to do so will have to be tested at least once a week.

The vaccine-verification program for the state’s roughly 246,000 employees and for all health-care workers will be implemented over the coming weeks, with compliance expected by Aug. 23. It will apply to all health-care settings across the state — public and private. The policy falls short of a vaccine “mandate,” offering employees the option of undergoing regular COVID testing instead of providing proof of vaccination. Those workers will be required to undergo testing at least once a week, possibly even twice a week.

“Too many people have chosen to live with this virus,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a news conference to announce the requirement. “We’re at a point in this epidemic, this pandemic, where individuals’ choice not to get vaccinated is now impacting the rest of us in a profound and devastating and deadly way. That choice has led to an increase in case rates, growing concern around increase in death rates and self-evidently around hospitalization rates.”

The policy comes in response to rising COVID-19 infection numbers and hospitalizations statewide. According to state officials, there were nearly 3,000 people hospitalized due to COVID as of Monday, up from about 900 on May 15. The average daily rate of new cases is now at 9.6 per 100,000 people, up from 1.9 per 100,000 on May 15. State officials noted that the daily infection rate among unvaccinated residents is believed to be more than 14 per 100,000, compared to about 2 per 100,000 among the vaccinated population. That equates to unvaccinated residents being infected at roughly seven times the rate of vaccinated people.

In announcing the policy, state officials urged private employers in California to consider implementing similar systems of verifying vaccination and requiring testing for unvaccinated workers. Current workplace rules in the state only require employers to verify workers’ vaccination status if they want to remove face masks in indoor workplaces. Unvaccinated workers must wear masks indoors. State officials said private employers have the legal authority, if they choose, to require workers to be vaccinated.

Newsom said he hopes the state’s policy will encourage other businesses “across the spectrum” to take similar steps.

He noted that the state has seen an uptick in the number of people getting vaccinated in recent weeks. State officials said there was a 16% increase last week in the number of people getting their first dose of the vaccine, compared to the previous week. But Newsom also had strong words for “the right-wing echo chamber” that he said has politicized the virus and spread misinformation about the vaccines, contributing to hesitancy among many people.

“We are exhausted, respectfully, exhausted by the ideological prison that too many Americans are living under,” Newsom said. “We’re exhausted by the Ron Johnsons and the Tucker Carlsons, we’re exhausted by the Marjorie Taylor-Greens, we’re exhausted by the right-wing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety. We’re exhausted by the politicization of this pandemic and that includes mask- wearing, which has been equated to the Holocaust. It’s disgraceful. It’s unconscionable. And it needs to be called out.

“… It’s a choice to live with this virus, and with all due respect, you don’t have a choice to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else’s lives at risk. That’s the equivalent of this moment with the deadliness and efficiency of the Delta virus. YOu’re putting other people’s — innocent people’s — lives at risk. 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 for in person instruction.

“… Your choice not to get vaccinated and to listen to these pundits who are profiteering off misinformation, intentionally misinforming you, comes at a real societal cost.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, responded to Newsom on Twitter, writing, “Gavin Newsom, you know what is exhausting to the people of California? Your communist dictatorship. Shutting down businesses, closing churches, schools and beaches is disgraceful. … Which is why you’re being recalled.”

The state has not issued a new mask-wearing mandate like the one recently implemented in Los Angeles County, requiring face coverings for everyone indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Newsom said a majority of residents are living in counties that have either a mask-wearing mandate or recommendation in place.

Mask-wearing will be required in schools as they return to in-person instruction. Newsom noted that teachers are not state employees and thus will not be impacted by the vaccination-verification program.

24 comments for "CA mandates COVID vaccine proof for state employees, healthcare workers"

    • And here’s another one shot screen name with no opinion on anything other than me.

      How many people really don’t recognize the local troll farm has been roused by their masters? If the local troll farm wasn’t so inept this would actually be a problem…maybe.

      Pro tip: if you are gonna run a troll farm they can’t just pop out of the woodwork when you are desperate. They need to participate, have opinions on actual stuff, build credibility for their screen names. This pop up with a one off and call names is just wasted time and effort.

  2. oh ya like the vaccine is so “experimental” and toxic that they “experimented” on our whole nations first responders, hospital staff, police, EMT’s, sherriffs – to see if they would what? drop dead first? that makes absolutely no sense if they had no faith in the science. This is such [removed]- ever since strump decided to politicize “everything” (fill in the blank)_____ to further his $$agenda$$, the whole nation now cries foul over everything from the sun going down in the West to which side of the bread to butter. I was on a double lung transplant list until covid hit and as soon as I saw the struggle in the societal fabric of America devolve into the great chasm of conspiracy theories – the last place I wanted to be was in a hospital where everyone was dying and God knows who was walking the hallways transmitting it because they didn’t believe in the science. And the last place I want to go is my doctors office and get it from some employee who doesn’t want to protect me from it. I didn’t just get the vaccine for me – I got it to protect you from me. So let me see if I get this right? Get the vaccine and have a 80% chance of not contracting covid or join the other 194M people world wide who have contracted it and passed it along to others along with the 4.16 million who have died worldwide. Don’t you people get it? A virus is smarter than you. All it has to do is wait out all the idiots and nature will cull the herd.

    • @gve sounds typical, lib. Me me me. Who cares what you think, my health choices are of no concern to you. If your scared stay in your house , sounds like that’s the safest place for you.

      • How about if you wanna spread disease, YOU stay in YOUR house? Yes, your health choices are no concern of mine, but when you want to spread disease to other people that’s not “your health choice.”

        • I dunno if you do or you don’t. Fact is that YOU don’t know if you do or you don’t. That’s why masks aren’t a “personal health choice.” If you want to come into my place of business while there is a pandemic killing millions of people, put one on…or make your personal choice and STAY HOME.

  3. The FDA needs to approve or pull the Emergency use Authorization (EUA). Today I read where they want to inject children and see what happens before granting approval. Enough of the slow leaking SOGOTP.

    Don’t think I’d put this in kids.
    The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine contains the following ingredients: messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), lipids (SM-102, polyethylene glycol [PEG] 2000 dimyristoyl glycerol [DMG], cholesterol, and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]), tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate trihydrate, and sucrose.

    • You read that, eh? Where at?

      Because “inject people and see what happens” is an alternative way to describe “conduct a clinical trial.” That actually is what is required before an approval is granted. It’s a description that no reasonable journalist would use, because it is highly prejudicial and gives a completely wrong impression of the requirements, but at a guess the basic principles of journalism are totally lost on whoever wrote this. I strongly recommend you upgrade your sources and stop letting whoever that was pump sludge into your brain.

        • Thanks, but I’m pretty discerning about sources. You can look for a post where I quote stupid nonsense and try to pass it off as relevant fact. If you find one point it out.

    • Your first paragraph makes clear that it is very likely that you have no idea what even half of what’s in your second paragraph is.

      Your opinion is obviously based on fallacies from Fox’s phallic talking heads and, therefore, has no validity.

      You may return to your rock now.

      • Yeah, you are right. We all need to stop thinking so much, we should blindly trust the government. They would never lie to us, nor do they have a history of doing so.

        Your purple prose style of writing tells me you have no friends and that nobody sits at your table at lunch or work events. You are not an author and your little reddit account does not qualify you as one either.

        • Wait…Stinger is an author? When did that happen?

          Meanwhile, I see nothing in Stinger’s post, purple or otherwise, that looks anything like “stop thinking.” His posts usually look a lot more like “start thinking.”

      • @stinger change your name if that’s your best stinger , your making fun of someone who you think watches fox when we know you watch cnn….. you and dim Scott are the same , one with better grammar. Btw the one with better grammar is not you. Insert yourself under rock now please.

        • CNN has moderately good commitment to basics of journalism. I deriously doubt that you will ever see CNN in a courtroom using the “well, there is no law requiring that news agencies report the truth so we lie but it isn’t a crime” defense…which Fox has used.

          • I got spoiled by having an editor for a while. I will get back in the habit of proofing before posting.

            Meanwhile, the “oh they are all the same” claim is just wrong. Only two “news” networks have openly committed to “we tell our audience what they want to hear, facts be damned” as a marketing strategy…CNN isn’t one of them. Neither is ABC, neither is CBS. NBC has opted for that strategy, but kept it isolated to their MSNBC platform.

            Fox is an entirely different thing, and if you can’t recognize that I really can’t help you…but when a corporate lawyer stands up in court and says “there is no law saying that network news has to be true, so the fact that Fox and their affiliate stations intentionally air misleading ‘information’ is not at issue…” there is a clear lack of commitment to the basic principles of journalism. Fox is entertainment for people who just want ANY account of “what those dastardly democrats are up to now,” even if it is completely made up.

            That’s why it is so easy to identify the Fox fans here. They quote daffy stuff that is “as seen only on Fox,” because Fox made it up. They may not get it direct from Fox; they may be getting it from some whaky right wing blog that echoes it, or from one of those ‘did you hear????’ e-mail chains that the misinformed right wingers think are originated in heaven itself, but the specifics don’t matter. What matters is that they have every right to keep themselves ignorant and misinformed, but they have no right to expect that they will be allowed to spew nonsense unchallenged.

          • Fox has to register as an opinion/ entertainment channel with the FCC. They are not a news channel, and anyone who goes to them for news is an idiot. News flash, Fox is not a credible news channel according to the FCC, even when Trump was in charge, so how anyone can go to Fox for news for news is totally beyond me.

    • Momma…I’ve read the ingredients on a reliable site. Most parents that wouldn’t put this in kids feed their children processed foods, load them up with sugar, and feed them junk food. Parents doing harm to their children on a daily basis. Read the ingredients on the food labels you give your children.

  4. So “Mandate” experimental injections without actually Mandating them. Sounds about right. But Choose not to be injected and get tested regularly even tho many that have been injected also test positive at some point? Testing positive is not an indicator that one “has” it. Being symptomatic means you have it. The same as influenza and other Sars type infections like a cold.
    When it was the Trump vaccine liberals pointed to the “science”, now that it is the Biden vaccine they state it’s strictly political why some choose not to be vaccinated. Ever wonder why such a large percentage of Health Care providers choose NOT to be injected? It is a LACK of science type of reasoning, not political reasoning.