Last night, President Biden announced a new mandatory COVID-19 vaccine as part of a major plan to contain the pandemic.
“Even though the delta variant — COVID-19 — is hitting this country hard, if we can come together as a nation and use those tools, we have the tools to fight the virus,” Biden said. Speech on September 9, 2021“If we increase vaccination coverage, protect ourselves and others with increased masking and testing, and identify those who are infected, we can turn the tide on COVID-19.”
he continued, COVID-19 Action PlanSix Strategies for Capturing the Pandemic: Get More People Vaccinated, Protect Those Already Vaccinated More, Help Schools Open Safely; Implementing other preventive measures (including widespread free testing for COVID-19, requiring masks in some circumstances), improving care for those infected with COVID-19, and safeguarding the country’s economic recovery. increase.
As you can imagine, this involves many intertwined strategies. But what has already drawn the most attention is the vaccine mandate, which applies to all private companies with more than 100 of his employees. The plan also includes a requirement that these employers give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated.
“The Department of Labor requires all employers with 100 or more employees, collectively employing more than 80 million workers, to ensure that their employees are fully vaccinated or at least vaccinated once a week. We are announcing that we are making an emergency rule to confirm that we have shown negative results,” Biden said. “We protect our vaccinated workers from our unvaccinated co-workers. We will reduce the
Legal experts previously told SELF that such vaccine mandates are unlikely to violate health privacy regulations. As such, we may feel more comfortable implementing the COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
Vaccine mandates and the whole sweeping plan are the bold move public health experts have been waiting for.
“Biden’s 6-point delta plan has a lot of what I wanted,” writes Celine Gaunder, M.D., clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. . twitter“Take advantage of the entire toolbox against COVID, including but not limited to vaccines.”
“i’m so excited @potus Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said: twitter“COVID is killing 1500 Americans. Every day. We have the tools to beat COVID.”
“This is the test plan we have been waiting for. The Defense Production Act is to boost rapid antigen testing. Major retailers will sell COVID tests at cost. Free testing at pharmacies. expansion,” wrote Thomas Tsai, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. twitter“New @WhiteHouse Path Out from pandemic planning allows us to refocus #FlattenTheCurve through vaccination, testing, ventilation and masking. We can do this now to protect our children at school,” he said. continuation.
That said, there were some places where they felt the plan could have been pushed further, and some said there was enough to justify a third dose of COVID-19 vaccination for the general public. Some expressed concern about whether there is data. It includes a combination of hygiene measures (including vaccines, tests, masks, etc.).
Related:
