The California Department of Public Health expanded the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Tuesday to require senior care facility and in-home care workers to be fully vaccinated.
The state has already required health care workers, K-12 teachers and state employees to get vaccinated or test at least once a week for COVID-19.
The update to the state’s mandate will require people who work in adult and senior care facilities, certified home care aides, hospice care workers and employees of the state’s facilities serving people with developmental and intellectual disabilities to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30.
“We can and must continue to protect our most vulnerable communities from the ongoing threat of COVID-19,” CDPH Director and state Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon said in a statement. “These care settings are home to Californians with complex medical conditions, all of whom are at high risk of having severe but preventable outcomes including hospitalization, severe illness, and death.”
As of Wednesday, 83.9 percent of state residents age 12 and older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose while 69 percent are fully vaccinated.
State residents can visit https://myturn.ca.gov, https://myturn.ca.gov/index.html or call (833) 422-4255 to schedule a vaccination appointment or find a walk-in vaccination clinic in their county.