New San Francisco Order Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters For Workers in ‘High Risk’ Settings

A new health order by the city of San Francisco to require COVID-19 vaccination boosters for those who work in higher risk areas or visit high-risk areas, was issued on Wednesday in response to a growing number of Omicron variant cases in both the Bay Area and in California.

According to the new order, boosters will be required for those who work in higher risk settings for infection and spread, such as dental workers, pharmacists, nursing facility workers, retirement home workers, jail workers, adult care workers, and others. The order also covers those jobs that routinely visit those places, including police officers, medical technicians, paramedics and lawyers who visit clients in jails. Healthcare workers are currently also part of the requirement due to the state order issued last week. The comply-by date has been set for February 1st and covers both San Francisco city and County.

In addition to the new worker booster requirements, staff and attendees of indoor mega-events will also need their booster shots beginning February 1st, with places such as the Chase Center already giving official announcements on the matter.

Many groups affected by the order expressed disappointment and confusion on Wednesday, noting that the city simply simply e-mailed the new requirements out without allotting time for questions and other concerns of the new order.

“Working together on the most effective strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID actually requires the City picking up the phone or meeting with their employees prior to unilaterally declaring edicts or rushing to push the panic button,” San Francisco Police Officers Association President Tony Montoya said on Wednesday. “It is unfortunate that 40 pages of medical jargon is emailed to us with no consideration for the many questions our members may have. We expect better from our City leaders and so should the public.”

The confusing wording also left many workers, such as San Francisco firefighters and court workers, unsure about whether they are covered by the order or not.

“We still haven’t gotten word if we are supposed to get boosters now,”  a San Francisco Fire Department worker who wished to remain anonymous told the Globe. “I mean, we’re all vaccinated, so a booster isn’t that big of a deal. But there are some of us who don’t want the booster, especially those that fought against the vaccine mandate earlier this year. We just want to know what the hell is going on, and they don’t even want to tell us, let alone say it to our faces.”

The city made the booster order primarily to help counter the recent surge of the Omicron variant currently affecting San Francisco and the state, with the variant already eclipsing the Delta variants peak average.

“We just want to do right by the people of San Francisco,” added the SFFD worker. “We want to save lives and protect. But the city not telling us what do, if we have to get a booster, all of that. It’s an insult quite frankly. There’s huge fights about mandates and masks, and vaccines and everything all over. We just want to be kept in the loop right now, to better do our job. And not just us, a lot of workers still don’t know if they need to. And that’s not right.”

Other booster mandates are expected in the state following California’s statewide healthcare worker order last week and San Francisco’s order in the coming weeks.