Supervisor Pushes Vaccine Mandate

A Milwaukee County Supervisor is pushing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all Milwaukee county employees.

Sup. Ryan Clancy has sponsored a resolution that calls on the County Executive to establish a policy that requires all county employees to show proof of vaccination.

Clancy’s resolution did not propose any specific parameters for such a policy. Instead, it said the policy “must be equitable in its implementation,” and, if employees face restrictions or consequences for not being vaccinated it must be “in conjunction with, or preceded by,” vaccination incentives.

On Monday, Mayor Tom Barrett announced a vaccine requirement for all city employees that goes into effect Sept. 1st. Employees will have until Oct. 29th to show proof of vaccination; after that, they can be suspended for 30 days, and potentially be fired if they still don’t show proof of vaccination.

Clancy’s resolution notes that the Delta variant has recently been driving up cases of COVID-19, and that the vaccines available are still effective against the new variants of the disease.

The resolution also points to major organizations in Milwaukee that have implemented some variation of a vaccine mandate, like Northwestern Mutual, which is requiring all employees and visitors coming to its offices to be vaccinated. It also mentions Summerfest’s new policy requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend the festival this fall.

The City of Madison and Dane County have also both recently announced vaccine mandates for public employees.

During a media briefing Monday, County Executive David Crowley said, “A vaccine mandate for Milwaukee County employees is not off the table.”

The county executive also said the vaccine “is the best tool that we have to get out of the pandemic.” Asked during the briefing why the county hadn’t implemented a vaccine mandate yet, he replied that the county is gathering data on county employees’ vaccination status, and is doing so into September, before it makes a decision.

He said county officials began discussing potential vaccine mandates when the Delta variant began driving cases up more than a month ago. 

The county has already approved vaccine incentives for employees and persons incarcerated in the Milwaukee County Jail or the House of Correction (HOC). It’s offering paid time off for employees that receive it, and cash for people in the jail or HOC that can be used in the canteen.

The state also recently announced it was offering $100 to anyone vaccinated between Aug. 23rd and Sept. 6th.