Berkeley Issues Vaccine Mandate

BERKELEY, CA — The city of Berkeley on Wednesday became the second Bay Area municipality to issue a vaccine mandate.

The new health order requires employees and patrons at restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and gyms among other indoor venues to show proof of full vaccination.

The mandate applies to patrons 12 years of age and older who are eligible for the vaccine.

Berkeley Health Officer Dr. Lisa B. Hernandez issued the order Wednesday, making the East Bay city the Bay Area's second municipality to issue a vaccine mandate. San Francisco is the other.

Patrons will be required to show proof of vaccination when the mandate goes into effect Sept. 10. Employees will have until Oct. 15 to comply with the requirement.

The mandate focuses on indoor environments where airborne droplets or particles containing the virus spread easily, city officials said.

The mandate includes large indoor events of 1,000 people or more. Venues that sold tickets before Sept. 3 are exempted until Oct. 15.

Patrons of such events that can’t provide proof that they’re fully vaccinated can also provide proof of a negative PCR test in the previous 72 hours.

Employees of adult care facilities, dental offices, pharmacies, and all public and private childcare facilities will also be required to show proof of vaccination by Oct. 15.

These businesses have greater risks of exposure to an unvaccinated or immune compromised population, city officials said.

The three rigorously tested and FDA-authorized vaccines remain the most powerful of the many tools required to fight the pandemic, city officials said.

Each person vaccinated is less likely to get infected or spread the virus and is also greatly protected against sickness, hospitalization, and death, city officials said.

"Not only do vaccinations lower each person's risk of infection and sickness, they increase our entire community's safety," Hernandez, the city’s health officer, said in a statement.

Correction: Venues that sold tickets before Sept. 3 are exempt from the mandate until Oct. 15. A previous version of this article did not include this requirement going into effect Oct. 15.