President Joe Biden says federal workers and contractors now have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — and businesses with 100 or more employees will need to have those workers fully vaccinated or face weekly testing.
The business requirement, to be handled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, could involve about 80 million workers. Businesses that don’t comply could also face fines of up to $14,000 and a requirement the companies need to offer paid time off for vaccinations.
At the government level, this expands prior efforts to fully vaccinate the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs as well as the Indian Health Service and National Institutes of Health. The Transportation Security Administration is also extending its interstate travel mask mandate through at last Jan. 18 and the fine for noncompliance will double, perhaps reaching $3,000 for repeat offenders. Health care facilities receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements will need their employees to be vaccinated.
Not surprisingly, the state’s Republican lawmakers in Washington are adamantly against this plan. Senator Roger Marshall says the Biden plan is “an all-out assault on private business, our civil liberties and our entire constitutional system of limited government.” Fellow Senator Jerry Moran says the plan is “extreme government overreach.”
