Now that the state’s vaccination efforts are going to shift to try and reach as many unvaccinated people as possible, Gov. Charlie Baker said he is still not a fan of the idea of requiring state employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“The idea that I would kick somebody out of a job — and especially in the kind of economy we have now — because, quote unquote, they wouldn’t get vaccinated right away on an EUA-approved vaccine…No. I’m not gonna play that game,” Baker said Monday. “I think what we ought to be doing is making it easier for people and creating positive opportunities for people to get vaccinated and make clear to people that this is safe, it is effective.”
Last week, Baker said he did not envision requiring state employees to be vaccinated to return to work and would leave it to individual businesses to decide how to approach vaccinations with their own employees.
“There are a bunch of people are hesitant about this who have very good reasons for being hesitant about this,” Baker said Monday. “And the idea that we would take those folks and basically make them choose between their rent and their food on the table and all the rest when they have, in some cases, very legitimate reasons to be nervous about a government-run program that’s going to put a shot in their arm, no, I’m not going there. I’m not going there.”
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