Biden: Mandate will force millions of Americans to ‘do the right thing’

President Biden on Thursday ordered national vaccine mandates that would force tens of millions of Americans to finally get their COVID-19 shots or face weekly testing, as the United States fights to quash the brutal delta surge.

The president’s order, which is being developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, applies to employees of compa

nies with 100 or more workers. Vaccines also will be required for almost all federal workers, who will not be able to opt out with testing.

The order, which covers about two-thirds of the national workforce, comes as the U.S. struggles to increase vaccine uptake amid a fourth wave of infections fueled largely by people who are not vaccinated. It is the most assertive response to the pandemic so far from a president who has generally been hesitant to issue mandates as opposed to softer appeals.

California, and the Bay Area in particular, has not been hit as hard hit by this surge compared with many other parts of the country in large part because of relatively high vaccination rates. Roughly two-thirds of residents are vaccinated across the ninecounty Bay Area region, compared with about 53% nationally and under 40% in some states. Across California, about 58% of residents are vaccinated.

But even in the Bay Area, many more people need to be vaccinated to reach a level of community immunity to not only end the delta surge but thwart future waves. Scientists believe at least 85% of all residents need to be vaccinated to force a retreat of the virus to such low levels that it would no longer be a persistent, deadly threat.

“Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated,” Biden said Thursday during a televised speech in which he at times appeared visibly short-tempered. “What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We’ve made vaccinations free, safe and convenient. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot.

“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin. And the refusal has cost all of us. So please, do the right thing,” he said. “If we raise our vaccination rate, we can

and we will turn the tide on COVID-19.”

The president’s plan touched on several areas to attack the latest surge: increasing vaccination rates, encouraging use of masks and other community mitigation efforts, expanding testing options, keeping schools open and safe with vaccination and testing, and improving access to COVID treatments, especially in areas where hospitals are overwhelmed.

The vaccine requirement was the most aggressive piece of Biden’s six-point plan, even with an allowance for people in the private sector to decline vaccination in favor of weekly testing. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people might fall under the order in California or the Bay Area, where many employees already are required to be vaccinated by city, county or state mandates, or because their employers demand it. Legal challenges are likely.

California has already issued a number of vaccine orders. Health care and nursing home workers must be vaccinated, and teachers and other school staff must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. On Thursday, Los Angeles Unified became the first large school district in the country to require students 12 and older — those eligible for vaccination — be vaccinated by January.

Several Bay Area companies have said employees can only return to offices if they provide proof of vaccination. San Francisco is requiring all city workers to be vaccinated, with no option to opt out through testing.

For companies that have been requiring most employees to be in the office, vaccine mandates are a logical step, some employers said Thursday. “We mandated the vaccine voluntarily back in June” to coincide with the state’s June 15 reopening, said Sarju Naran, chair of the employment law practice at San Jose law firm Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel.

The federal mandate would be welcome news for many of the companies he advises, Naran said. “Employers have a really difficult time enforcing these rules when you’ve got folks all over the spectrum politically claiming political and religious exemptions,” he said. “This stops employers from looking like the bad guy.”

There is still likely to be resistance from businesses on a number of fronts.

“From circumstantial conversations with members, I think there’s going to be some resistance to vaccine mandates,” said Derrick Seaver, chief executive of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. He added that would be particularly true if punitive measures are put in place for companies that do not comply.

Nationally, United Airlines, Disney and Tyson Foods, along with several other very large employers, already require employees be vaccinated or test regularly. “Even Fox News” has such a mandate, Biden said Thursday.

“Nearly three-quarters of the eligible have gotten at least one shot,” Biden said. “But one quarter has not gotten any. And in a country as large as the United States, that 25% can cause a lot of damage. The unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals. They’re overrunning emergency rooms and intensive care units.”

Biden echoed public health officials across the country in calling this latest surge a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Though so-called breakthrough cases are possible in people who are fully vaccinated, the bulk of cases are in those who are not vaccinated. That’s even more apparent among patients who are hospitalized or in intensive care with COVID.

“I’m not worried about the

breakthrough cases. I’m worried about the people who aren’t vaccinated,” said Dr. Vanessa Walker, medical director of Sutter Health’s electronic intensive care unit for the Central Valley region, where 87% of COVID patients are not vaccinated.

Intensive care unit occupancy has been above 90% in the San Joaquin Valley for more than a week, and last Friday the state ordered hospitals outside the region to accept patients if there was no space for them. Several Bay Area counties have reported taking transfer patients recently.

“We’re hearing so many people filled with regret at not getting the vaccine. Some even ask for the vaccine when they arrive. And it’s too late,” Walker said. “That is something we can’t go back and fix. But you can proactively get vaccinated so you’re not sitting in the ICU, regretting you didn’t do something that could save your life.”

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Chase DiFeliciantonio contributed to

this report.