Biden’s vaccine mandate to be enforced after the New Year, offering U.S. companies relief

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will begin enforcing his mandate to have private sector workers vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19 starting Jan. 4 to free businesses during the crucial US public holidays have to contend with labor shortages.

US officials also said Thursday that the vaccination requirement for federal contractors has been postponed for a month to the same date. Millions of healthcare and nursing home workers participating in Medicare and Medicaid must also have their syringes by January 4th.

Biden set the requirements to increase vaccination rates and get more people back to work. However, in numerous meetings with companies and industry groups representing retailers, logistics companies and construction workers, executives urged the administration to postpone the implementation deadline after the New Year, citing concerns about labor shortages.

Employers are also not required to provide or pay for tests, and the rule provides medical and religious exceptions.

Failure to comply with mandate results in a fine of approximately $ 14,000 per breach, which increases with multiple breaches, senior administration officials said. They did not provide clarity on whether workers would be fired if they refuse to get the shot or to be tested.

“It is important to understand that there are still so many workers who are not protected and who continue to be at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from COVID-19,” said a senior civil servant.

The administrators spoke on condition of anonymity.

Biden initially set a deadline for 70% of U.S. adults to get at least one vaccination by July 4th, but the White House missed the deadline as it underestimated the growing anti-vaccine sentiment in the country, being promoted by right-wing talk show Moderators, anti-Vaxxers, online disinformation campaigns, and opposition from Republican lawmakers.

Biden announced his mandate in September after his administration’s efforts reached a breaking point as the country struggled to control the spread of the virus.

Despite a large-scale rollout and incentive campaign by the administration with 42,000 pharmacies, dozens of mass vaccination stations, free rides and free beer, large parts of the population refused to accept free vaccinations.

It worked in many parts of the United States. Millions were waiting to be vaccinated and the rate of vaccination rose nationwide, with recent data showing that 70% of US adults have been fully vaccinated and 80% have received at least one vaccination.

But according to the latest US data, an average of 1,100 Americans still die from COVID-19 every day, the vast majority of them unvaccinated. The coronavirus has killed more than 745,000 Americans.

The mandate is likely to unleash a fierce legal battle that will depend on an infrequently enforced law and questions of federal health and authority.

“The new temporary emergency standard is within the legal powers of OSHA … there is a well-established legal precedent for the powers of OSHA,” said a senior administrative official, explaining the legal powers of the OSHA. print the rule.

The mandate applies to companies with 100 or more employees and could affect around 84 million workers nationwide, the White House estimates. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that only 12 million people would be vaccinated as a result of the mandate.

Along with Biden’s executive order, which requires vaccination of all federal employees and contractors, the rules apply to 100 million people, about two-thirds of the U.S. workforce, the White House estimates.

The health care worker rule applies to 17 million workers in 76,000 health care facilities, although most of them are already vaccinated, data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) shows.

The government estimates the rule will prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations and save thousands of lives in the six months after it was introduced.

Reporting by Nandita Bose, David Shepardson and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware Editing by Chris Sanders & Shri Navratnam

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bidens-vaccine-mandate-be-enforced-after-new-year-offering-us-companies-relief-2021-11-04/