President Joe Biden ordered sweeping federal vaccine requirements on Thursday, in an effort to rein in the surging COVID-19 delta variant and curb vaccine resistance across the country.
The new mandate will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or have unvaccinated workers produce negative test results at least once a week.
Overall, the new requirements will impact over 80 million workers across the US.
To implement the mandate, White House officials said the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard.
Officials also said that OSHA is developing a rule that will require employers with 100 or more employees to provide paid time off for the time it takes for workers to get vaccinated or to recover if they feel ill after getting their shots.
More than 177 million Americans — or 53.4 % of the population — are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but the country is experiencing a daily average of about 140,000 confirmed cases and about 1,000 deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Back to All News