More Companies Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines for Employees, but Is It Enough to Make a Difference? – By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder (US News) / Aug 30 2021
Experts say that more vaccine mandates are needed to curb the pandemic and that offering increased testing or other mitigation measures instead doesn’t go far enough.
President Joe Biden last week made a plea to the private sector: With Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine approval from the Food and Drug Administration in hand, more companies should require their employees to get the shot.
“Today I’m calling on more companies in the private sector to step up the vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people,” Biden said. “If you’re a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that and require it.”
Several companies moved forward with vaccine requirements this week, including CVS and Delta along with the New York City school system and the Pentagon. And the nationwide vaccination rate is ticking upward after seeing a massive drop since its peak in April.
But with just over 52% of the U.S. population fully vaccinated and coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations on the rise, public health experts say the steps taken don’t go far enough.
