Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans – KIRO 7 News Seattle

WASHINGTON – (AP) – In his haunted pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered comprehensive new federal vaccine requirements for up to 100 million Americans – private sector employees, healthcare workers and federal contractors – in an all-out effort to keep the emerging Curb the COVID-19 delta variant.

In a speech at the White House, Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of Americans who, despite months of availability and incentives, have not yet been vaccinated.

“We were patient. But our patience is failing, and your refusal has cost us all, “he said, almost bit off his words. The unvaccinated minority” can do a lot of damage, and that’s them. “

Republican leaders – and some union leaders too – said Biden was going too far to pressure private companies and workers, a sort of sign of legal challenges ahead.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said in a statement that “Biden and the radical Democrats (have) turned their noses up on the constitution,” while Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, insisted that “changes like these be made negotiation units should be negotiated with our “

On the other hand, there were strong words of praise for Biden’s efforts to get the nation vaccinated by the American Medical Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable – though no direct mention was made of his mandate for private companies.

The far-reaching rules dictate that all employers with more than 100 employees require a vaccination or test for the virus weekly, which affects around 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million health care workers who receive federal Medicare or Medicaid must also be fully vaccinated.

Biden also requires vaccination for executive staff and contractors doing business with the federal government – with no testing facility. That covers several million other employees.

Biden announced the new requirements in a White House address Thursday afternoon as part of a new “plan of action” to address the recent surge in coronavirus cases and the stagnant pace of COVID-19 gunfire.

Just two months ago, Biden prematurely declared the nation’s “independence” from the virus. Although more than 208 million Americans are receiving at least one dose of the vaccines, the U.S. is seeing about 300% more new COVID-19 infections every day, about two and a half times more hospitalizations, and almost twice as many deaths compared to the same point last year. About 80 million people remain unvaccinated.

“We are in the difficult phase and it could be a while longer,” said Biden.

After months of using promotions to boost vaccination rates, Biden is taking a much firmer hand as he blames people who have not yet received vaccinations for the surge in cases where more than 1,000 people are killed per day and jeopardize fragile economic recovery.

In addition to vaccination requirements, Biden has doubled federal penalties for air passengers who refuse to wear masks on flights or comply with face-covering requirements on federal property, as per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He announced that the government will work to increase the number of virus tests on offer and that the White House has received concessions from retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to start selling home test kits at cost starting this week.

The administration is also sending additional federal funding to help schools operate safely, including additional funding for testing. And Biden demanded that large entertainment venues and arenas require vaccinations or proof of a negative test for entry.

The requirement for large companies to mandate vaccinations or weekly tests for employees will be enacted by an upcoming rule by the labor protection agency that will impose fines of $ 14,000 per violation, an administrative official said.

The rule stipulates that large corporations give paid immunization waivers.

In the meantime, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will extend a mandatory vaccination requirement – for nursing home staff – from earlier this summer to other healthcare facilities such as hospitals, home health authorities, and dialysis centers.

Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services will require vaccinations in head-start programs, as well as in schools at the Department of Defense and India’s Department of Education, affecting approximately 300,000 employees.

According to press secretary Jen Psaki, Biden’s order for workers and executive contractors includes exemptions for workers requesting a religious or medical exemption from vaccination. Federal employees who fail to comply will be referred to their agencies’ human resources departments for advice and discipline, including possible dismissal.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in August found that 55% of Americans are in favor of full vaccination for government employees, compared with 21% against. Similar majorities also supported vaccine mandates for health workers, teachers who work in K-12 schools, and workers who interact with the public, such as in restaurants and shops.

Biden has promoted COVID-19 vaccine requirements in settings such as schools, workplaces, and university campuses. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Department of Education voted to require all students 12 and older in the country’s second largest school district to be fully vaccinated.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in late July that all workers at its Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters, as well as its managers traveling within the U.S., must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 4th. Demanding shots for his frontline workers.

CVS Health said in late August that certain staff who interact with patients must be fully vaccinated by the end of October. This includes nurses, care managers, and pharmacists.

In the government, several federal agencies previously announced vaccine requirements for a large portion of their workforce, especially those who work in the healthcare sector like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pentagon decided last month that all soldiers must be vaccinated. Taken together, the White House estimates that these requirements cover 2.5 million Americans. Thursday’s order is expected to affect nearly 2 million more federal employees and potentially millions of contractors.

Biden’s actions should help, but what really needs is a rethink for many people, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“That has an aspect that has to do with the fact that our country is so divided,” said Sharfstein. “This is so politicized that people cannot see the value of a vaccination that can save their lives. Our own divisions prevent us from ending a pandemic. “

More than 177 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but confirmed cases have risen to an average of about 140,000 per day with an average of about 1,000 deaths in recent weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of the spread – and the vast majority of serious illnesses and deaths – occurs in people who have not yet been fully vaccinated. So-called breakthrough infections occur in vaccinated people, but are usually far less dangerous.

Federal officials are moving forward with plans to begin giving booster shots of the mRNA vaccines to strengthen protection against the more transmissible Delta variant. Last month, Biden announced plans to make them available from September 20, but by then only the Pfizer vaccine will likely have received regulatory approval for a third dose.

Officials aim to give the booster vaccine about eight months after the second dose of the two-dose vaccine.

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This story corrects the union official’s organization in paragraph 5.

Associate press writers Anne D’Innocenzio, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this.

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