PHOENIX — Maricopa County is now giving its employees until Nov. 30 to get vaccinated in order to receive $100.
At Wednesday’s regular meeting, the county’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to extend the deadline for incentivized COVID-19 vaccination from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30. Supervisors Jack Sellers, Bill Gates, Clint Hickman and Steve Gallardo voted in favor of the extension; Steve Chucri voiced the lone “no” vote.
Chucri also voted no at the Sept. 1 meeting, when the board first approved the incentive for the county’s 13,000 employees.
Employees must submit proof of being fully vaccinated to Human Resources by close of business on Dec. 8.
The board voted on the extension Wednesday without discussion. At the Sept. 1 meeting, Hickman asked County Manager Joy Rich about some statistics.
Rich said as of August, the county had paid out $2.7 million in worker’s compensation claims related to COVID-19.
Jan Plank, the county’s human resources director, said Maricopa County has paid out $4.1 million in COVID-19 benefit-related costs.
On Sept. 1, Sellers said county employees who have lost their lives to COVID-19 should be a factor in incentivizing vaccination as well, though no one provided an exact number of county employees who have died of the virus.
Chucri said he believes the vaccine works. However, he said, he voted no on Sept. 1 because getting vaccinated is “a very personal choice.”
A staff report says employees who submit proof of being fully vaccinated by the original deadline of Nov. 10 will likely receive their $100 incentive on their Nov. 24 paychecks.
For employees who submit their proof by Dec. 8, they will likely get their $100 on their Dec. 22 paychecks.
This incentive applies to the county’s elected offices, appointed departments, the Flood Control District of Maricopa County and the Maricopa County Library District.
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
By 
