Orange County mayor: Employees who don’t comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandate won’t be fired

Mayor Jerry Demings announced the decision Sept. 23 during Orange County's COVID-19 update.


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In Orange County's COVID-19 update Thursday, Sept. 23, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said county employees who do not comply with the county’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate will not be fired.

As of Thursday, Demings said 84% of all Orange County employees have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine or have had accommodations granted. Of those, 94% of non-union employees have received at least one shot and 69% of union employees.

Demings said those employees who refuse will be given a “written reprimand.” He also added the decision came after conversations with the firefighters’ union.

“I believe the decisions we’ve made have been in the best interest of everyone, including our firefighters," Demings said in the update. "This is the right balance, I think, going forward."

Since the mayor’s last news conference on Monday, he said 45 additional COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the county. That brings the county’s total death toll since the pandemic began to 1,922.

 

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Annabelle Sikes

News Editor Annabelle Sikes was born in Boca Raton and moved to Orlando in 2018 to attend the University of Central Florida. She graduated from UCF in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sociology. Her past journalism experiences include serving as a web producer at the Orlando Sentinel, a reporter at The Community Paper, managing editor for NSM Today, digital manager at Centric Magazine and as an intern for the Orlando Weekly.

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