Since the district court in Rhode Island issued a mandatory vaccine rule for staff in late May, almost all of the court’s 72 employees have received the COVID-19 shots, with one granted an accommodation.

The mandate is more strict than the vaccine-or-test policies currently being rolled out in some federal courts, but it faced no pushback from workers, said Frank Perry, chief deputy clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. He attributes its success to transparency and communication through town halls with staff earlier in the year, after the vaccines received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.