Vaccinations can't be required of government workers under NC bill

At the current time, the vaccine cannot be required for most workers, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't formally approved any of the vaccines being administered. They have only been granted emergency use authorization.

However, Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Henderson, said he was contacted by a county government office worker who felt pressured to get the shot.

"It was heavily insinuated to them that, if they didn't get it, they wouldn't have a job when they came back the next week," Johnson told members of the House State Government committee. "If someone's, you know, in good health and doesn't feel as though they need it, well, we certainly don't want them to lose their job because of that."

Rep. Sarah Stevens, R-Surry, agreed. "There don't seem to be any exceptions for those people who already have the immunities. You have the immunities, why in the world would you need a vaccine?"

However, Matt Gross, an assistant secretary with the state Department of Health and Human Services, warned lawmakers that the bill doesn't make any exceptions for workers in government-run health care facilities, where a COVID-19 vaccine could soon be required under federal rules for infection control. The also appears to include any coronavirus vaccine, not just those for COVID-19.

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Gross said the bill could also cause staffing shortfalls in those facilities.

"The way it's written, is it appears that we could not treat anybody differently because they have or have not gotten vaccinated, that we would have to treat every employee in one of our state health facilities as if they are unvaccinated," Gross explained. "So, if you were to have an outbreak, we'd have a vaccinated employee that could come back to work much more quickly. But we'd have to take them all and quarantine all of them."

"Is there any way the government can mandate getting a vaccination today?" Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, asked Gross.

Gross explained that, for some workers in health care settings, it's not uncommon for vaccinations like the flu shot to be required as a condition of employment.

"Specific to the COVID pandemic," asked Torbett, "is there a governmental, or can there be a governmental, mandate on being vaccinated?"

"There's not one at this time, to my knowledge," Gross answered.

Stevens pledged to work with Johnson on some "tweaking" of the bill's language to address DHHS' concerns before its next hearing.

"I understand that that's not something you're seeking to exclude if it's required because of the nature of their job," she said to Johnson. "That's different than just all employees."

The bill passed the committee unanimously and heads next to the House Health committee.