LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Los Angeles County Sheriff says he will not enforce the county’s vaccine mandate on his agency.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who heads the county’s largest sheriff’s division with around 18,000 employees, said in a Facebook Live event Thursday that he had no plans to carry out the county’s mandate, according to which the Los Angeles county’s staff until October had to be fully vaccinated 1.
The mandate was granted by executive order in August and only allows religious and medical exceptions. Villanueva said its employees are more willing to be fired than to get vaccinated.
“I don’t want to be able to lose 5, 10% of my workforce overnight to a vaccination mandate,” said the sheriff.
More than 26,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the country.
Of the county’s roughly 10 million residents, 78% have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 69% are fully vaccinated, according to public health officials.
Health officials said the county has reported an average of 14 deaths a day, although deaths and hospital admissions have fallen by about 50% since late August.
Villanueva’s announcement came a day after the city of Los Angeles approved one of the toughest vaccine mandates in the country – a sweeping measure that requires the shots for anyone entering bars, restaurants, nail salons, gyms, or even a Lakers game.
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