A California In-N-Out was shut down for refusing to check diners' vaccination status

• Health officials closed a California In-N-Out store after it violated a county vaccine mandate.
• The branch refused to check the vaccine status of people who wanted to eat inside, officials said.

Health officials shut down a California In-N-Out store after workers failed to check customers' vaccination status, violating the county's vaccine mandate.

Officials closed the branch in Contra Costa County on Tuesday, saying the restaurant refused to check the vaccination status of people who wanted to eat inside.

In a statement, Contra Costa Environmental Health said the restaurant had been warned multiple times, and fined, The Hill reported.

"The Pleasant Hill In-N-Out location received four citations in recent weeks and fines totaling $1,750, all for the same health order violation, before today's action," it said Tuesday.

Arnie Wensinger, In-N-Out's chief legal and business officer, has supported restaurants as they challenge the mandates.

A separate In-N-Out location in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, was temporarily closed on October 14 for the same reason: not checking vaccination proof of indoor diners, as Insider's Kate Duffy previously reported.

Wensinger said in a statement after that closure that it shouldn't be staffers' role to check if people are vaccinated.

"We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government. It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant Associates to segregate Customers into those who may be served and those who may not, whether based on the documentation they carry, or any other reason," he said at the time.