New Sacramento data shows 79% of city employees are vaccinated against COVID-19

More than 3,500 City of Sacramento employees, 79% of its workforce, have been vaccinated to help prevent COVID-19 infection, according to new data released Wednesday.

City officials said 3,537 of Sacramento’s 4,494 employees confirmed they received the COVID-19 vaccine, and 849 workers reported they’re unvaccinated.

City workers were required to report their vaccination status by Oct. 15; 72 employees did not submit their vaccination status. City officials said the majority of employees who failed to submit their vaccination status either work part-time or seasonally.

The vaccination status for 36 other employees either remained in the process of being verified or the employees are on an approved leave of absence, according to the city.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council in August instructed City Manager Howard Chan to develop and implement a plan ensuring vaccination for all city employees. Chan on Wednesday thanked employees for participating in the process to collect the vaccination data.

The process required employees to upload photos of their vaccination cards, which were then verified by the city’s Human Resources Department. City officials said employees who didn’t report their status by the Oct. 15 deadline will be put on unpaid leave, which was agreed to by union leaders. The employees are allowed to use vacation time or other approved accrued time off, except for sick leave.

“We now will use this information to continue negotiations with our labor partners about an employee vaccination policy, which is expected to include a testing component,” Chan said in a city news release.

Sacramento Fire Department employees had a 76% vaccination rate, and all 648 of its employees submitted their vaccination status, city officials said. There were 155 Fire Department employees who were unvaccinated, according to the city’s data.

The Sacramento Police Department had a 73% vaccination rate as of Oct. 15, and 13 of its 1,117 employees had not submitted their status, city officials said. Ten other Police Department employees were in the process of being verified or on approved leave. The city’s vaccination data showed 284 police employees were not vaccinated.

Sacramento’s Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment Department had an 80% vaccination rate. City officials said out of the department’s 703 employees, who also interact with the public regularly, 26 workers had not submitted their vaccination status and 12 others were in the process of being verified or on approved leave. The city’s data showed 105 department employees were not vaccinated.