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posted by martyb on Friday September 10 2021, @07:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the get-vacinated-and-wear-a-mask dept.

With COVID out of control, Biden unveils hefty vaccine mandates:

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a sweeping six-pronged plan to try to regain control over the COVID-19 pandemic, which is wildly raging once again in the US.

[...] The main focus of the president's "Path out of the Pandemic" plan is on reducing the number of unvaccinated people in the country. As such, the plan's most prominent elements are hefty vaccination requirements for millions of federal employees, health care workers, school employees, and even employees of private businesses.

Biden signed an executive order Thursday requiring COVID-19 vaccines for millions of federal workers plus millions more federal contractors. The new vaccine mandate eliminates a previous option that allowed federal workers to undergo regular testing in lieu of vaccination.

In addition to mandating vaccines for federal workers, Biden will also require vaccination for over 17 million health care workers who work at facilities that receive federal funding. The administration had previously required vaccination for all staff of federally funded nursing homes. The new requirements will extend vaccine mandates to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies—most facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

[...] The administration is also working on a rule—to be implemented through the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration—that will require employers with 100 or more workers to ensure that their workforce is fully vaccinated or submits to regular COVID-19 testing. The rule is expected to apply to over 80 million employees nationwide. OSHA is also working on a separate rule that will require those employers to provide paid time off to get vaccinated.

For schools, Biden will require vaccination for the nearly 300,000 staff in federal Head Start and Early Head start programs. He will also put pressure on governors to get all teachers and school staff vaccinated. Last, the administration will push more schools to implement regular testing, which will be funded by $10 billion the administration already allocated to schools earlier this year.

Also at CNN, www.aljazeera.com


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 10 2021, @03:28PM (9 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday September 10 2021, @03:28PM (#1176650) Journal

    Force vaccination is an interesting approach. Wonder if that will backfire, either people will go look for other jobs. After all it's not like government employees are among the most high paying positions.

    OSHA is saying the right to a workplace free from recognized hazards includes not breathing air containing a virus responsible for a global pandemic.

    So, companies with more than 100 people also need to take steps to ensure my workplace is free from the COVID virus.

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  • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:00PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:00PM (#1176667)

    It is much more cost-efficient to ensure their workplace is free of you.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 10 2021, @04:57PM (1 child)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday September 10 2021, @04:57PM (#1176705) Journal

      That's some wicked burn pointing out how much money I make!

      Will your follow-up be to call me really sexy?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @05:03PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @05:03PM (#1176712)

        The follow-up will be to call your trolling manual really lame.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by shortscreen on Friday September 10 2021, @11:12PM

    by shortscreen (2252) on Friday September 10 2021, @11:12PM (#1176823) Journal

    After everyone in your workplace is vaccinated and there are still viral particles hovering about, what then? OSHA shuts you down? Or will it suddenly be acceptable?

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by srobert on Friday September 10 2021, @11:30PM

    by srobert (4803) on Friday September 10 2021, @11:30PM (#1176827)

    I used to work with a lot of smokers back when few workplaces had rules prohibiting smoking. (Yeah, I'm getting old. I also remember cigarette ads on television). When smoking prohibitions began, some of the smokers ranted and raved about their "God-given right to smoke anytime, anywhere they Goddamned well pleased." They considered any restraint on smoking to be a tyranny rivaling that of King George III. Most of those guys that I knew back then died from cancer and emphysema years ago. And now I get to enjoy a workplace free of cigarette smoke, and free of the idiots who advocated for it.
    Workplace rules on vaccinations and masks during a deadly pandemic? It may take longer than I'd like, but I'm expecting the pattern to repeat itself.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 11 2021, @05:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 11 2021, @05:24AM (#1176885)

    I'm fine with OSHA requiring specific levels of expected transmission rates, but not on forcing vaccinations. You can get reduce COVID though things like air filtering, better circulation, and UV sanitizers. The "how" shouldn't be part of the requirements, only the goal. If we magically find a better way of solving the problem (like a virus fighting chewing gum), companies won't be able to use it because being vaccinated will have already been codified into law.

    As someone else already noted, the vaccines don't fully stop transmission, only the serious effects. If all we use is vaccines then we're all going to get COVID eventually. That might not matter, but it's something to be aware of.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Username on Saturday September 11 2021, @01:37PM (2 children)

    by Username (4557) on Saturday September 11 2021, @01:37PM (#1176988)

    There are multiple pandemics: Cold, Influenza, Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Strep, Food Poisoning diseases, Water Born diseases, etc.

    At which point do you consider work free from disease based hazards?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @07:27PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @07:27PM (#1177274)

      Once the risks and treatments are well understood of course! There is no magic line we can draw since diseases all operate differently.

      AGAIN, if people had masked up and social distanced properly we would have been pretty normal a year ago. If people got vaccinated we would have been back to normal soon after. How about you stop whining about the safety precautions and start whining about the selfish assholes that refuse to help us fix the problem?

      • (Score: 2) by Username on Monday September 13 2021, @07:42AM

        by Username (4557) on Monday September 13 2021, @07:42AM (#1177378)

        There is vaccine. It works. Those who want it, have it. Those who don't, don't. Majority of the world is already back to normal. Everyone is happy except you, and the fascists who think like you. We all don't have to salute the flag and march in lockstep. People are allowed to disagree.