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All California prison guards, staff must get COVID vaccine, judge rules

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers stand guard at San Quentin State Prison's death row adjustment center on Aug. 15, 2016, in San Quentin. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A federal judge on Monday ordered that all correctional officers and staff entering California’s prisons be vaccinated.

The judge sided with a federal court-appointed receiver overseeing the medical care there and rejected efforts to block it by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the prison guards union.


U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar’s order covers all 34 of California’s prisons and does allow for religious and medical exemptions to be sought by the employees.

“Once the virus enters a facility, it is very difficult to contain, and the dominant route by which it enters a prison is through infected staff,” the judge wrote in his order explaining his reasoning.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.