San Jose declared Thursday that every city employee will soon have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested regularly.
"We’re imposing a requirement that all city employees either be vaccinated or be routinely tested," Mayor Sam Liccardo said.
The mandate takes effect Aug. 23.
The move follows San Francisco and Santa Clara County, along with the state of California, in issuing such an order.
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Liccardo said, at some point, he expects the order to become a simple vaccination mandate, meaning get a shot or get another job.
"We need to do everything we possibly can to ensure that we can safely serve our community," he said. "The only way we can do that is ensure that everybody gets vaccinated."
For now, those who choose not to vaccinate or take the weekly tests will be put on unpaid administrative leave.
City unions have said in the past that they encourage vaccination among their members and would work out details with the city to ensure the rights of workers are protected.
The city is providing workers with one weekly hour of paid time to get their tests if that's what the worker chooses. But that option might be off the table by the end of September.
"We've all got to get vaccinated and that means we need to overcome our own inhibitions to vaccination," Liccardo said.
At least 81% of city employees have reportedly been vaccinated.
Liccardo said the decision to mandate the vaccine was not a difficult one given the dangerous spread of the delta variant.
