Fresno County’s top health officer urges requiring COVID vaccines for employees
Fresno County’s top health official said this week that county leaders should consider following hospital chiefs and other leaders who have begun to require vaccinations for many of their employees.
It remains unclear if the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will follow the advice. Multiple leaders expressed trepidation when asked this week.
Interim Health Office Rais Vohra said Tuesday he recommends the county follow the procedures that hospitals are using. Those most important practices would be requiring a proof of vaccination or demanding weekly testing, and compelling masks for every employee.
“This is really the best scenario or best strategy of how to keep people as safe as possible,” he said. “I would humbly submit these are cost effective and not invasive procedures to keep everyone safer.”
Vohra’s suggestions comes as a surge fueled by the COVID Delta variant sweeps the region. The surge is predicted to continue to rise statewide through September, Vohra said.
Meanwhile, Supervisor Steve Brandau took a firm stance against the requirement, saying the supervisors will continue to contemplate the question as they assess the impacts of the Delta variant.
“I’m not there yet and I feel like each individual should have the right to make that decision concerning their own body,” he said.
Supervisor Sal Quintero said he needs to hear more from labor leaders and county department heads about what the employees think before he’d consider a mandate.
“Kind of try to reach some kind of consensus on what’s workable for the county,” he said.
Vaccination rates
Fresno city leaders last week announced they will require employees to be vaccinated or submit to mandatory weekly COVID testing and wearing masks inside the workplace beginning Sept. 7.
About 36% of Fresno city employees are inoculated for COVID, Mayor Jerry Dyer said on Aug. 4.
The city has 3,700 employees, according to spokesperson Sontaya Rose. She said the city does not rely on the honor system and asks employees to show proof of vaccination.
That compares differently in the county. About 63% of the county’s 7,200 employees have self-attested to being vaccinated, according to Sonja Dosti, county spokesperson.
The county vaccine rate does not include employees of the Sheriff’s Office or those who work in public libraries, she noted.
Many public agencies have gone the extra step of requiring COVID shots. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday all California school teachers and staff must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.
Back in July, state leaders announced health care workers and state employees in California will soon be required to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 — or else wear face coverings and get frequent coronavirus tests.
Transparency and education
Supervisor Nathan Magsig said he thinks mandating shots for employees couldn’t lead to the success of an education campaign. He noted he himself is vaccinated.
“COVID is so politically charged right now. There are people charged on both sides of the argument,” he said. “Americans don’t like to be told what to do. When the appearance of force is used, all it does is turn off a segment of the population.”
Magsig said he believes the county’s high vaccination rate among employees goes back to its efforts to be accommodating, which included allowing employees get shots during works hours and setting up what amounted to small clinics for employees.
On top of that, social service workers or other county employees who spend much of their time meeting with the public likely chose to get inoculated, he said.
Vohra said there are many reasons people haven’t been vaccinated. It’s not just an issue of “anti-vaxxers” — people who campaign against the widely accepted medical practice.
Along with people who can’t get vaccinated for health reasons, there are those who have not yet been convinced the vaccine is necessary. Misinformation plays a role and so does psychological distress, which feeds conspiracies, Vohra said.
“At the same time we’re fighting a pandemic, we’re fighting misinformation as well, and those play a vicious cycle against each other,” he said.
