Hunter
01/21/22
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors have paused their vaccination policy in light of the recent US Supreme Court decision.
The Daily Iowan reports that during their Wednesday work session, the board made the decision on the advice of county attorney Susan Nehring. Effective immediately, the county will no longer discipline employees who do not comply with vaccination, testing and face covering policies. That includes the suspension of testing protocols for unvaccinated staff, who were required to submit a weekly test.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that emergency temporary standards issued by OSHA requiring entities with over 100 employees to adopt a policy of vaccine compliance exceeded the scope of their authority . The Board of Supervisors approved their policy in December, and Nehring said that about 90 percent of the county employees are indeed vaccinated.
The county attorney said during the work session that she wants to work with representatives from the county HR department, attorney’s office, and a Supervisor to put together recommendations on amending the policy.
In other Board of Supervisors news, plans to approve a COVID-19 testing site across the street from the county Public Health building have been tabled for another week. Nomi Health, who would run the site, still need to tour it before they approve the agreement.
