Biden Administration Releases Statement On Vaccine Mandate For Private Sector Workers

On Thursday, President Joe Biden released a statement addressing his administration’s vaccine and testing mandate for employees at companies with 100 or more workers. 

Biden stated, “while I would have much preferred that requirements not become necessary, too many people remain unvaccinated for us to get out of this pandemic for good,” going on to claim that he “instituted requirements – and they are working.”

Biden also claimed that “[v]accination requirements are good for the economy. They not only increase vaccination rates but they help send people back to work – as many as 5 million American workers. They make our economy more resilient in the face of COVID and keep our businesses open.”

The president’s statement continued: 

Today, the Labor Department issued its rule requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for companies with 100 or more employees. If you work for one of these companies you will either need to get vaccinated or test at least weekly.

Also today, the Department of Health and Human Services released its rule to ensure that our nation’s healthcare workers are vaccinated. No one should be at risk when they seek medical care. 

Together, these rules will cover about 100 million Americans – two-thirds of all workers in America.

As reported by The New York Times, the Biden administration is requiring that “large companies have until Jan. 4 to ensure that their workforces are fully vaccinated.”

There are also new requirements for workers in healthcare industries. “All 17 million workers at health care facilities receiving either Medicare or Medicaid funding must be vaccinated by Jan. 4,” The Times added. 

A summary of the rule released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stated that it is “an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace.”

It also stated that the “ETS requires employers to determine the vaccination status of each employee, obtain acceptable proof of vaccination, maintain records of each employee’s vaccination status, and maintain a roster of each employee’s vaccination status.”

The summary addressed masks, as well, stating that the ETS “requires employers to ensure that each employee who is not fully vaccinated wears a face covering when indoors or when occupying a vehicle with another person for work purposes, except in certain limited circumstances.”

The Times also noted, “Companies that fail to comply with the rule may be subject to fines, depending on how frequently they violate it and whether violations are intentional, a White House official said. An OSHA