Tucson gives city employees deadline to get vaccinated or face termination

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TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – Tucson City Council voted Tuesday 4-3 that all city employees should receive the COVID-19 vaccine or expect to be fired by December 1st.

Until last week, around 300 employees had neither been vaccinated nor given a special permit. The Tucson Police Department and Tucson Fire Department each had fewer than 100 non-compliant staff.

On August 16, the council passed a regulation implementing a vaccination mandate for its nearly 4,000 employees. Initially, employees faced five-day bans and other penalties such as restrictions on promotions and business trips.

But some council members, like Steve Kozachik of Ward 6, felt the regulation didn’t go far enough.

Last week, Kozachik told KOLD that some of those facing the suspensions “wore it as badges of honor” and “laughed at us,” which is why he believed the city had to get serious.

According to a memo, the distribution of the 300 employees is as follows:

• About 73 hadn’t received the vaccine by Aug. 24 and didn’t apply for an exception
• About 50 could not prove vaccination status
• About 180 did not receive the vaccine until October 5 after their application for exemption was denied

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