In a video podcast posted to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Facebook page on Sept. 10, County Sheriff Chad Bianco had previously stated that he would not be mandating new or current employees of the sheriff's department to have the COVID-19 vaccine, but maintained that he himself was "not an anti-vaxxer."

"I'm not anti-vax, I'm anti-vax for Chad but that doesn't mean that I'm anti-vax for someone else that feels they may need it, or that does need it, for high-risk categories, or even if it just makes you feel better," Bianco said.

"A lot of department heads, different law enforcement agencies are coming up with policies or things like that, and as far as I'm concerned, I will not mandate a vaccine for our employees, we will not make it mandatory for any new employee to be vaccinated or current ones," he continued. 

"I believe that is a very personal choice and that you need to make a decision."

Following the podcast, Bianco shared a statement on Sept. 13 in which he claimed that a local newspaper was set to publish a story about the podcast and an unnamed reporter had "cherry-picked statements from supposed health experts in an attempt to paint me … in a negative light."

Bianco reiterated his position regarding vaccinations and what he described as "tyrannical government overreach," noting that it is his constitutional duty and responsibility to protect the public. He added that the soon-to-be-published article was "nothing but sensationalism trying to gain readership and further divide us as Americans."