Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) spoke out on Thursday to tell the National Guard to plan on replacing any state workers who defy his vaccine mandate.

Fox Business reported that Lamont warned state agencies that they’d need to prepare for staff shortages when his plan forces state workers to either get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing goes into effect.

“I continue to remain optimistic that our employees will submit their testing and vaccination information quickly,” Lamont said. “But as we have done throughout the pandemic, we will prepare for the worst to prevent impacts to the critical services the state provides.”

“We have provided most state employees with the option to get tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, providing more flexibility than our neighboring states,” he added. “We have also provided our employees with a compliance grace period.”

“There is no reason all our employees should not be in compliance,” Lamont continued. “I continue to count on state employees to lead by example and to respect their co-workers and the public by complying with this executive order, which is the law.”

The Connecticut National Guard has since fired back to say that members of the Guard are ready to step in and do the jobs of the state employees who continue to remain unvaccinated.

“Connecticut National Guard members have stepped up to support this state throughout this pandemic in capacities ranging from skilled nursing facility inspection to distributing food to those in need to delivering PPE to health districts and first responders,” the Guard said in a statement. “Now, in this phase of the pandemic, we potentially may need to support critical activities.”

“We, in concert with our other agencies and the Governor’s office, are closely monitoring critical sectors and key positions that may be affected by a labor shortage, and we are looking at options for filling in critical capability gaps,” the statement continued.

Connecticut’s latest numbers state that 63% of Connecticut state employees are vaccinated, while 4,000 have begun their weekly testing. Meanwhile, around 25% of state employees, or about 8,000 of them, have not cooperated with the mandate in any way.

Lamont is the second governor to threaten to call in the National Guard to replace state workers refusing to cooperate with vaccine mandates. Last weekend, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced plans to replace thousands of healthcare workers refusing to get vaccinated with members of the National Guard.

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Every American should have the right to choose whether or not to get vaccinated without worrying about their jobs. What these liberal governors are doing to their hardworking state employees should be illegal.

This piece was written by James Samson on October 1, 2021. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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