Pierce County Is Not Mandating That Employees Vaccinate

TACOMA, WA — Pierce County is not planning on requiring county employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Shortly after setting the agenda at the Pierce County Council's weekly meeting Tuesday, Chair Derek Young opened by saying that he and the other council members had no current plans to introduce any sort of resolution or order that would require county officials or employees to be vaccinated.

Following Gov. Inslee's announcement that state employees would be required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, some in Pierce County have shared concerns that a similar mandate may be issued locally — a concern Young apparently wanted to nip in the bud.

Pierce County has 3,118 government employees, according to the Employment Security Department. The City of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Utilities have 3,653 employees combined. None of them are required to vaccinate under current legislation.

Among those raising concerns on the issue were the Pierce County Republican Party, which shared multiple posts on Facebook Tuesday warning that county leaders were considering a vaccine mandate, and Pierce County Councilmember Amy Cruver, who, in a letter to her constituents, called on the public to speak out against universal vaccine mandates.

"[N]o legislative introductions had been made, but telling your elected leaders if you do or do not agree with such a mandate can and should be done through email or at the county’s open public forum scheduled at the end of the council meeting on Tuesday," wrote Cruver.

Though the Pierce County Council is not planning on requiring county employees to vaccinate, other government agencies have made that call. All 13,500 employees of neighboring King County's executive branch will need to be to vaccinated by mid-October. Same with the City of Seattle's 10,000-plus employees.

Other agencies, like the State Auditor and Washington Insurance Commissioner's Offices, have also instituted vaccine requirements.

Tacoma and Pierce County on the other hand, have not. And even had the Pierce County Council proposed and passed such a requirement, it's unlikely it would end up making it past Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier: A spokesperson for Dammeier told the News Tribune Monday that the executive was in favor of incentivizing vaccination, but not vaccine requirements.

Currently, county employees are eligible to receive four hours of extra vacation time if they are vaccinated by mid-October.

That said, some people living inside Pierce County will be required to follow the state's mandate: health care workers in private health care and long term care settings across Washington are subject to the state's vaccine order. Health care providers are among Pierce County's largest private employers, according to the Employment Security Department. MultiCare Health System and CHI Franciscan Health were ranked the county's second and fourth-largest employers in 2019, accounting for nearly 14,000 employees together.

Local military members will also need to get their shots. Though not subject to Inslee's order, the Pentagon is primed to issue an order of its own requiring members of the U.S. military to get their COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 15, according to the Associated Press. The military is Pierce County's second-largest employer, with 54,000 full-time employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Related stories:

WA Announces Vaccine Order For State Employees, Health Workers

Vaccines Required: Auditor, Other WA Agencies Jump On Order