WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden has established vaccination and testing requirements for about 84 million workers at private U.S. businesses to raise vaccination rates and get more people back to work.
Below are the latest details on the White House effort.
Who Needs To Get Vaccinated By Jan. 4?
– Employers with 100 or more employees must ensure that their employees have received either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by January 4th. After that employees who have not received the necessary shots must provide a verified negative test to their employer on at least a weekly basis. Workers who receive a positive COVID-19 test or are diagnosed with COVID-19 by a licensed health care provider cannot go to work.
Who Pays?
– Unvaccinated employees will need to pay for their own weekly tests, a senior U.S. official said. Employees seeking vaccines will receive paid time off to get their shots, and, if needed, sick leave to recover from side effects experienced.
What About Masks?
– All unvaccinated employees must wear a face mask while in the workplace.
What Do Employers Need To Do Now?
– While the testing requirement for unvaccinated workers will begin after January 4th, employers must be in compliance with all other requirements – such as providing paid-time for employees to get vaccinated and masking for unvaccinated workers – on December 5th.
What Are The Rules For Healthcare Workers?
– The Biden administration is requiring workers at health
care facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid to have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated Jan. 4. This covers approximately 76,000 health care facilities and more than 17 million health care workers.
What Changes For Federal Contractors?
– Employees of federal contractors will need to have their final vaccination dose – either their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or single dose of Johnson & Johnson – by Jan. 4. The previous deadline was Dec. 8 to be completed vaccinated — or to have had their last shot by Nov. 24.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders and David Shepardson; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
