Immunization coordinator Nancy Davila holds up a vial of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Center for Human Development in La Grande on Friday, Aug. 6, 2021.

SALEM — More than 92% of some 1,800 state court employees and judges across Oregon are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 now that a mandate handed down by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters took full effect Nov. 5.

That represents an increase of about 6 percentage points since Walters issued her order in mid-September — and elevates the state court system to one of the most vaccinated big departments in the state.

State courts produced a higher vaccination rate than Oregon’s executive branch, which stood at only 85% as of two days after its vaccination mandate took effect. Gov. Kate Brown’s executive-branch order applies to more than 40,000 state employees, but not the judicial branch, which required its own directive from Walters.

The state courts’ rate also is notably higher than individual executive branch agencies employing more than 1,000 workers — including, as of Oct. 20, the Department of Corrections at 75%, the Department of Transportation at 81%, the Department of Human Services at 86%, and the Department of Justice at 89%.

The state courts’ vaccination rate, too, exceeds the reported rate of every category of health care worker, with the exception of Oregon dentists, with 94% fully vaccinated, according to state data through Nov. 1.

In comparison, 72% of adult Oregonians statewide are fully vaccinated.

Walters’ mandate applies to the Oregon Court of Appeals, Oregon Supreme Court and Oregon Judicial Department employees and elected and pro-tem judges in Oregon’s circuit courts.

But it doesn’t apply to many courthouse regulars, including prosecutors, defense attorneys and deputies moving detained defendants to and from courtrooms.

In Walters’ order, she required state courts employees and judges to get at least partially vaccinated by Oct. 1 and fully vaccinated no later than Nov. 5.

In an email sent to state court employees, she said her vaccination order was part of the department’s “efforts to keep our courts open and safe” and thanked employees for complying with it.

Of note, 256 of 258 state court judges are fully vaccinated, with just two unvaccinated but still on the job because they received religious or medical exceptions.

Among court employees, 1,441 of 1,581— amounting to 91% — are fully vaccinated, with 108 of them receiving exceptions.

Another 18 employees are awaiting approval of their exception requests. As of last week, the judicial department had denied one request for an exception so far.

Walters vaccination order requires employees who’ve received exceptions to undergo testing twice a week. Depending on their jobs, they also might be required to follow other precautions, such as wearing higher quality masks — N95s or K N95s — than vaccinated employees, according to Judicial Department spokesperson Todd Sprague.

Less than 1% of employees also didn’t have to get vaccinated because they’re on extended leave. In all, the state ended up dismissing just nine employees — or half a percent — from their jobs for falling out of compliance with the vaccination order.