Los Angeles Sheriff Villanueva told a Facebook Live audience he would not enforce the COVID vaccine mandate for his department with about 18,000 employees. This comes as an LA County mandate goes into effect, calling for at least one dose of the COVID  vaccine to get into bars, restaurants, sporting events, concerts, and just about anything else where big groups of people gather.

Sheriff Villanueva said that he isn’t willing to lose employees over the “politicized” issue:

“No, I’m not forcing anyone. The issue has become so politicized. There are entire groups of employees that are willing to be fired and laid off for having to get vaccinated. So, I don’t want to be in a position to lose 5% or 10% of my workforce overnight over a vaccine mandate, while at the same time, I’m barebones with the funding effort. This is like the worst of two worlds right here. So we have to pick and choose.”

As more mandates are forced on Americans, leaders like the LA Sheriff are doing the right thing by opposing the attempt to force everyone to be vaccinated.