Pasadena requiring vaccinations for city workers

Pasadena will be requiring its city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine once one of the three vaccines used in the U.S. is fully approved by the Federal Drug Administration.

Pasadena will become the first city in Southern California to make such a requirement. Pasadena already has an 80 percent vaccination rate, Laist reported. 

City spokesperson Lisa Derderian said about 60 percent of city workers have said they are fully vaccinated.

The new policy would affect 2,000 workers, and residents asked for the requirement to be put in place.

“We have members of the public that have commented that if they do need to call for emergency services, that they want the personnel that respond to be vaccinated. At this point, we can’t guarantee that,” Derderian said.

Along with the vaccine requirement for city workers, the city will be following Los Angeles’s lead and bringing back indoor mask mandates for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, according to the outlet. 

The mask mandate comes amid a 240 percent increase in coronavirus cases in July for the city.

Cases around the country have been spiking due to the delta variant, and some hospital systems and businesses are now requiring employees to get the vaccine.

New York City is expected to announce a new policy Wednesday that will require public health care workers to get vaccinated or undergo weekly coronavirus testing.