Everyone who works for Massachusetts' Executive Department will have to provide proof that they've been vaccinated by mid-October under an executive order signed Thursday by Gov. Charlie Baker.
Anyone who isn't vaccinated and doesn't have an exemption for medical or religious reasons approved by Oct. 17 will face disciplinary action, which may include being fired, the Baker administration said.
The policy applies to people who are working from home as well as those working in the offices, according to the announcement. The administration will son tell Executive Department employees how to verify that they've gotten two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or the one dose of Johnson & Johnson.
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Employees will also have to get any booster shots of the vaccine following CDC guidance.
The employee vaccination requirement goes further than some others', like Boston's -- the city is requiring employees who aren't vaccinated to get tested for COVID-19 every week.
The administration said it will work with state unions to outline the discipline that their members will face for not being compliant far ahead of Oct. 17. Some bargaining units embraced the move, but at least one union was already pushing back against the mandate on Thursday.
The union representing prison guards and other corrections officials in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, said it was pursuing "all legal and legislative" remedies to the mandate.
"We feel this Executive Order fails to uphold your individual rights and is unconstitutional," the MCOFU executive board wrote in a memo to members Thursday, adding it has "begun the process of pursuing all legal and legislative remedies at our disposal, up to and including an injunction in court."
State House News Service contributed to this report.
