Charlie Baker Not Worried About Number of State Employees Suspended Over Vaccine Mandate

By State House News Service | November 2, 2021, 18:30 EDT

By Chris Lisinski
State House News Service

The hundreds of Massachusetts employees who have been suspended for failing to adhere to a vaccine mandate are “pretty much scattered across the executive branch,” Governor Charlie Baker said Monday.

As of Wednesday, 362 executive branch workers had been suspended for failing to attest that they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or seek a medical or religious exemption, according to Baker’s office. Another 141 employees either quit or were terminated, while more than 39,000 workers are in compliance with the order.

The governor’s office has not fulfilled requests for department-level data indicating which sectors of state government have higher rates of non-compliance with the vaccine mandate, which had a deadline of October 17.

Asked Monday, November 1 which departments had the most suspensions, Baker replied, “The number of suspensions that are out there is only a few hundred, and they’re pretty much scattered across the executive branch.”

A similar mandate took effect Monday, November 1 requiring all state representatives and their staffs to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or seek an exemption to work in-person from State House offices. After participating in a weekly meeting with Baker and other legislative leaders, House Speaker Ronald Mariano declined to detail how many people have complied with the House mandate so far.

“The timeframe is 5 o’clock today. I won’t have a comment on the compliance rate until after 5 o’clock,” Mariano said, urging members and staff who are not yet immunized to get the shots. 

New to NewBostonPost?  Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts.  But you’ve found it.  Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months.  And join the real revolution.