Biden urges firms to mandate shots
U.S. President Joe Biden said full approval of the Pfizer-biontech COVID-19 vaccine should clear the way for companies to impose vaccine requirements for employees.
“I’m calling on more companies in the private sector to step up the vaccine requirements that will reach millions” more people, Biden said Monday.
Biden spoke after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the vaccine among those 16-andup after earlier allowing the shots to be given under emergency authorization. It’s the first vaccine to be fully cleared by U.S. regulators.
Biden had publicly been expressing hope for an approval, which he believes will ease vaccine hesitancy while also giving stronger footing for businesses, schools and government agencies to require the shot. Already on Monday, the Pentagon said it would soon require all service members to be vaccinated.
A wave of new cases has surged in the U.S. throughout the summer, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. The rise in cases has prompted concern about the U.S. economic recovery and prompted the White House to expand efforts to persuade the unvaccinated to get shots.
Biden said Monday that Americans who have been holding out should now get shots. He said the best way to protect children from the virus — those who are too young to get the vaccine — is for adults around them to get vaccinated and for kids to wear masks when they leave home. “I know that parents are concerned about COVID-19 cases among their children,” Biden said.
Some companies already have imposed vaccination requirements.
Those requiring vaccination for employees returning to U.S. offices include Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and the Walt Disney Co. Citigroup Inc. told employees returning to offices in the New York area and other big U.S. cities that they’ll need to be vaccinated. Chevron Corp. and Hess Corp. announced Monday they are requiring employees who work on platforms in the Gulf of Mexico to get shots. United Airlines has said workers must get vaccinated.
The Pfizer-biontech vaccine has become the most widely used of three available vaccines in the U.S., which also include those made by Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.
The Pfizer-biontech vaccine continues to be available to people age 12 to 15, as does a third dose for certain people with compromised immune systems, under an emergency authorization.
Biden has announced a plan to begin giving booster shots next month to people who had their final dose of the vaccine at least eight months earlier, out of concern that vaccine efficacy is waning over time, particularly against Delta.