US to require workers in companies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly

President Joe Biden will demand that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the US Department of Labor will issue an order requiring companies with more than 100 employees to vaccinate or test their workers for the coronavirus every week.authorities said Thursday.

The new measures, on which Biden was scheduled to comment at 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), cover about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, as part of a larger and more aggressive attempt to vaccinate Americans amid a wave of COVID-19. case of the fast-propagating Delta variant.

According to Biden’s plan, the administration would also require the immunizations of more than 17 million healthcare workers in hospitals and other institutions participating in Medicare and Medicaid social programs for poor, disabled and elderly Americanssenior administration officials said.

The new vaccination requirements cover about 100 million workers, or about two-thirds of all workers in the United States.the authorities said. In addition, the administration plans to increase the testing capacity of the virus.

Biden will use his authority under the Defense Production Act to push the industry to speed up production of the tests, and major retailers, including Walmart (WMT.N), Amazon.com and Kroger (KR.N), will sell the tests at cost for three months to make them more affordable, officials said.

Full recovery of the US economy depends on slowing the spread of the virus, which is a key health and political goal of the Democratic president.

“Our overall goal here is to reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, noting that 80 million have not yet been vaccinated. “We want to reduce this number, decrease hospitalizations and deaths, and allow our children to go to school safely.”

Federal workers’ unions on Thursday suggested they would accept the vaccination mandate.

Federal workers will have a 75-day “surge” period to get vaccinated, then be referred to human resources for advice and possible disciplinary action.Psaki said. Workers who are not exempt from vaccination and who refuse to be vaccinated may be dismissed.

Despite an accelerated campaign by the Biden administration urging all eligible Americans to receive free vaccines, just over 53% of Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The disease has killed more than 654,000 people in the United States, and deaths and hospitalizations have increased dramatically as the Delta variant of the virus spreads., easily transmissible.

In July, Biden said federal workers were required to get vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and other restrictions like mandatory face covering in workplaces.

Biden’s speech will also cover wearing masks, protecting the economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, and improving healthcare for those infected with COVID-19.Psaki said.

“He is going to speak directly to those vaccinated and to their frustration, and he wants them to hear how we are going to take advantage of what we have done so far to control the virus and get back to a version of normal in this country,” he said.

The White House’s COVID stimulus plans and the expected economic rebound in the United States were based on the vast majority of eligible Americans getting vaccinated this year. But the issue of public health has become politicized, with a vocal minority rejecting vaccines and mask warrants, arguing that they violate their individual rights.

The spread of the Delta variant has raised concerns as children return to school, while unsettling investors, disrupting plans to return to the company’s office and cutting hires.

With 160,000 new infections per day, the country “is still in pandemic mode. It’s not even a modestly good check“, said to Axes Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci.

“You have to be well below 10,000 (per day) before you start to feel comfortable,” Fauci added.

The White House plans to offer boosters that provide additional protection to those who are fully vaccinated. ANDSo this flies in the face of arguments by the World Health Organization and other advocates that with limited global vaccine supplies, rich countries should halt recall programs until more people around the world are vaccinated.

But because Delta causes more symptomatic infections in fully vaccinated people, most vaccinated Americans want a booster, according to a recent opinion poll from Reuters / Ipsos.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) and other test makers try to increase production as cases increase, after declining in recent months. CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) recently placed limits on the number of home tests customers can purchase.

The White House has said the federal government cannot require vaccines nationally, but has encouraged school districts, businesses and other entities to require vaccines.

(With information from Reuters)

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