Vaccination mandate: The government will not require you to be vaccinated. Your employer will.



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And it may not be necessary.

Your employer, the restaurant where you want to eat, the concert hall you want to visit or the country where you want to travel can do it for them.

Employers are the big story today. And this is where the federal government comes in again. It is the largest employer in the country and President Joe Biden, wearing his CEO cap, on Thursday announced that federal workers, with few exceptions, will either need to get vaccinated or get tested every week.

Is it a mandate or a requirement? CNN calls this a requirement since the policy will require federal civilian workers to show proof of vaccination or face tests and other mitigation measures.

RELATED: Vaccination Mandates Are Politically Risky, But Can Just Work

This is only at the limit of a requirement, since there is an output in the form of a test. But it is certainly a requirement to prove, as you can, that you are free from the virus.

It is a step short of a warrant, which requires proof of vaccination as a condition of employment and offers no other option, except in the case of medical and religious exemptions.

Bosses want to see your vax card. Biden isn’t the only one as bosses look to some sort of certainty for the majority of workers who are likely already lucky.

CNN’s Christine Romans gave an overview of how American companies, after months of reluctance, are taking a tougher stance on employees.

“The Delta variant of the virus has many companies tweaking their plans to return to the office. Many were hoping to have employees after Labor Day, now some are pushing back later in the fall. But they report vaccines will be needed. as a result, ”she writes, and notes that unvaccinated MGM employees will have to self-isolate without pay if they test positive for Covid.

Who has vaccine requirements? CNN has a list of large companies that have announced new Covid vaccine requirements, and they are primarily based in Silicon Valley (Google, Facebook), Wall Street (BlackRock, Morgan Stanley), and in healthcare companies and media.

Opposition of trade unions. What you don’t see are companies with a large union workforce, and unions are likely to oppose the demands.

The Washington Post writes about immediate objections to Biden’s demand from unions representing postal and law enforcement officials.

This matches opposition from other groups, including the American Federation of Teachers, whose members will not be affected by Biden’s new demand, but who nonetheless insist that a vaccine requirement be negotiated rather than pushed by executive order. .

How many people work for the US government? The federal government is a leviathan with many tentacles. Even excluding the 1.4 million military service members who may be exempt from the Biden requirement, there are still several million Americans who make their living either as full-time feds. government employees (2.2 million), contractors (5 million) or subsidized employees (1.8 million), according to Brookings calculations as of 2020. It appears that different agencies will have the latitude to ‘apply the requirement in different ways, but in any event, this represents the country’s largest employer likely telling millions of employees to get vaccinated or otherwise prove they are Covid-free.
RELATED: Biden Announces Measures to Induce Covid-19 Vaccinations, Including Requirement for Federal Employees

Vaccination required for service. Proof of vaccination is already essential for the European holidays you would like to take. It could also come for that good meal that you would like to have.

“If you really don’t want to get vaccinated, you can dine somewhere else and you can also go to work somewhere else,” Union Square Hospitality Group restaurateur and CEO Danny Meyer told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Thursday. “I would call it a company policy rather than a mandate,” he added. His company operates high-end restaurants in DC and New York.

It’s unclear if Shake Shack, the fast food chain he founded, will follow suit.

Lollapalooza, the music festival taking place in Chicago this weekend, will require spectators to present vaccination cards or negative Covid tests upon arrival and those who are not vaccinated will be required to wear masks during the show.

Nudge vs. demanding. The NFL doesn’t require vaccines, but it makes life much more difficult for unvaccinated players. They have to get tested every day during training camp, obey travel restrictions, wear masks, stay out of the sauna and steam room (come on !!!), eat their meals separately and more. Even that doesn’t change everyone’s mind.

What’s on the minds of unconditional unvaccinated people? Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley clearly objected to getting the vaccine.

“I’ll be out doing what I’m doing. I’ll be out in public,” he warned in June on Twitter. “If you (sic) are afraid of me, then avoid or get vaccinated. Point blank. Period. I can die of covid, but I’d rather die alive.”

RELATED: One-third of Eligible People Not Vaccinated. This is what we know about them
In a statement Wednesday, Beasley said he would no longer answer any questions about the vaccine and simply thinks no one knows enough about it.

No cannot be an option. As the Delta variant rages on, there is a growing tendency to think that only the demands will force the hesitant or hostile to fire.

RELATED: American Workers Face Increasing Pressure to Get Vaccinated Against Covid-19
“I think they’re going to have to be swayed by mandates,” said Dr. Paul Offit, who sits on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, when he appeared on CNN Thursday. He pointed out that measles had been eradicated by school vaccines in this country until it returned because groups of parents rejected the vaccines.

“The mandates are, ‘You have to get the vaccine or else you can’t work here.’ You see it happening in the private sector. … Sometimes you have to get people to do the right thing. Unfortunately, that’s where we are right now, ”he said.

Next step: FDA approval. What could increase the requirements is full vaccine approval by the FDA. The military is exempt from Biden’s vaccine requirement, and officials have suggested they would wait for full FDA approval before requiring soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to be vaccinated.

Many companies can also wait for this green light.

“You’re asking the FDA to say, ‘It’s final, it’s approved’, and I can guarantee you that all the places I’m involved in, if you don’t get the shot, you will be fired,” co- Home Depot founder Ken Langone told CNBC on Wednesday. He serves on the board of directors of NYU Langone Medical Center. “You have an obligation to your neighbor to protect him and yourself.”
What is taking so long? We have a new story on the FDA approval process, which includes this:

An FDA official told CNN on Wednesday that the agency continues to work as quickly as possible to review the applications. The official noted that as part of the emergency use clearance granted last year , the vaccines have already undergone an “extensive scientific evaluation” in order to “meet the rigorous standards of the FDA for safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality.”

(I’m trying to imagine complete and utter chaos if, for some reason, the FDA doesn’t grant full clearance to vaccines that are already in the hands of around 50% of the country. Note: this should not happen.)

Where are the requirements already in place? Dr Marc Boom, chief executive officer of the Houston Methodist Hospital Network, was on CNN Thursday and spoke about the requirement for her outfit, announced in May and adopted in June.

“We were able to achieve almost 100% vaccination,” he said. “We lost about half a percent of the workforce; 26,000 people work at Houston Methodist. We lost 153 people who did not want to be vaccinated. About 1% of people have a religious exemption. , 1% to postpone until after pregnancy 98% of people walk around vaccinated And we have seen dozens of hospital systems follow suit.

He also noted an increase in vaccinations as Delta variant cases increase in Texas.

“They realize it was a mistake and it is getting out of hand,” he said. “Unfortunately, while we have seen a slight uptick, it is not enough.”

Most of the business requirements I’ve read include a religious exemption, although relatively few people use it, if the Houston Methodist is an indicator.

Not everyone agrees that there should be a religious exemption. Here is the argument that there should be no religious exemption, as written in the LA Times by UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who cites an opinion written by Conservative Judge Antonin. Scalia to support his argument.

“Stopping the spread of a deadly communicable disease is obviously a compelling interest and vaccinations are the best way to achieve this goal. No one, by practicing their religion, has the constitutional right to endanger others,” says -he.

Then again, an Ohio federal court once heard arguments in a flu vaccine case that equated deep-rooted veganism with religious belief. The parties in this case have settled.

The Supreme Court has not heard a case directly related to vaccine requirements for over 100 years. This seems likely to change as such requirements – from cities, states, employers and other groups – are adopted.

An Indiana federal court this month upheld Indiana University’s vaccine requirement for students. It allows a religious exemption. Even still, the students argued that the requirement deprived them of their liberty. So far this is not good enough.

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