US wants to add Pfizer boosters for more teens

CDC to vote on 3rd shot for ages 12-15

The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.

Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older, and federal regulators on Monday decided they’re also warranted for 12- to 15-year-olds once enough time has passed since their last dose.

But the move, coming as classes restart after the holidays, isn’t the final step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to recommend boosters for the younger teens. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’S director, is expected to rule later this week.

The FDA also said people 12 and older who are eligible for a Pfizer booster can get one as early as five months after their last dose rather than six months.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the Biden administration can proceed with the vaccine and testing requirement.

The rule requires that employers with at least 100 workers implement a vaccine mandate or require unvaccinated workers to be tested weekly.

Generally, employers can require their workers to be vaccinated as long as they carve out exemptions for medical and religious reasons.

This rule is estimated to affect as many 84 million employees across the country. The requirement would apply to nearly 2 million Ohio workers, including about 300,000 in Franklin County, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has said it will not issue citations for noncompliance before Jan. 10 and will not issue citations with the standard’s testing requirements before Feb. 9, so long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard.

Employers, already struggling under the weight of the labor shortage and supply chain problems, are worn out by two years of debate over multiple and conflicting laws and mandates between state and federal governments, Burgett said.

“There’s just massive fatigue from employers,” Burgett said. “Many of them have reached the point, ‘Tell me want to do.’”

Business leaders say it is the uncertainty more than anything at the moment that is driving anxiety.

“It puts operators in a really difficult position of having to get ready for this, even though it could get overturned again,” said John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association.

“The uncertainty and back and forth is frustrating to a lot of people,” said Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber, which has fought the mandate in court.

Like Burgett, Stivers is encouraging businesses to be ready if the court allows the vaccine mandate to go forward. On top of that, a ruling may not come immediately, putting even more pressure on businesses to be ready when the court does decide, he said.

“It’s just one more thing on top of the other requirements on businesses that keep from focusing on what they should be focusing on,” Stivers said.

Quarantine questions

Outside of the vaccine mandate, there are other big unresolved questions such as cost and how long workers with COVID-19 should quarantine now that guidelines stipulate workers can go back to work after five days of isolation as long as they don’t have symptoms, Burgett said. What’s an employer to do if a worker comes back after five days and is coughing? she asked.

That rule also requires workers to wear a mask for five days to minimize the risk of exposing someone to COVID-19.

“It’s a minefield,” she said. While the vaccine mandate is supposed to apply to companies with at least 100 workers, smaller companies with federal contracts are required to implement vaccine mandates as well.

Religious exemption requests surge

Employers are being hit with an onslaught of claims from workers who believe they should be exempt from vaccine requirements for religious reasons, she said. Many are downloaded from the internet.

“Some are up to 60 pages long,” Burgett said. “It could be impulsive to just accept them, but that could have a lasting impact after COVID is done.” Then there is the cost of testing. Employers are allowed to pass that along to workers, but Stivers said given the ongoing labor shortage, it is unlikely any company would stick that bill with a worker.

Imposing a weekly test on unvaccinated workers could add thousands of dollars of costs even to a company with just 100 workers, he said. Also, there is the risk of fines for companies violating the mandate.

Stivers said companies don’t want to lose workers over the mandate, especially to smaller employers that aren’t subject to the it. On the other side are workers who don’t want to disclose their vaccination status, he said.

“This is not inexpensive. You have to put a policy in place, with steps and procedures,” Barker said. “Depending on how many employees you have it could be pretty onerous.”