Less than a week after announcing a vaccine mandate for private-sector companies employing at least 100 workers, Democratic President Joe Biden met Wednesday at the White House with high-profile CEOs and other leaders in the White House to convince companies to support the requirement.
According to CNBC, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer, Kaiser Permanente President and CEO, and Columbia Sportswear President and CEO Tim Boyle be some of the guests.
The New York Times reported that Boyle “said in an interview Wednesday that his company had developed a policy that required vaccinations months ago. But it had been suspended until Biden announced last week that it was leading the Department of Labor to issue an emergency safety statement that would effectively function as a vaccine mandate for tens of millions of workers. ” .
“There are far fewer opportunities for people to go to a place where they don’t need to be vaccinated,” said Boyle, who added that having unvaccinated employees is “highly harmful.”
A White House official described the rally as a “rallying cry” to push other companies to follow suit.
According to the Washington Post, Biden “wants to show that his actions have the support of some of the nation’s largest companies and set aside criticism from Republicans that the mandates are an executive scope.” The requirement is expected to affect more than 80 million employees in private sector companies. Unvaccinated workers will be subjected to weekly tests if they choose not to be punctured.
“It’s not about freedom or personal choice,” Biden said when he addressed the nation last week. “It’s about protecting yourself and those around you.”
During Biden’s speech, he appeared to repeatedly blame unvaccinated Americans for the increased transmission of COVID-19 across the country.
Several Republican governors have rejected Biden’s “COVID-19 Action Plan,” which includes fines of up to $ 14,000 for infringement for companies that fail to comply.
“The president has no authority to demand that Americans be injected because of their employment in a private company,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted the day the Biden administration revealed its strategy. “The vaccine itself is life-saving, but this unconstitutional movement is terrifying. That is still America and we still believe in the freedom of tyrants. “
The president has no authority to demand that Americans be injected because of their employment in a private company. The vaccine itself is life-saving, but this unconstitutional measure is terrifying. This is still America and we still believe in the freedom of tyrants.
– Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) September 9, 2021
Republican Party governors leading other states, including Texas, South Carolina, Montana and Alabama, have expressed similar sentiments.
According to ABC News, “Arizona became the first state to sue for the mandate this week, although the Department of Labor has not yet created the rule that requires the vaccine.”
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican running in the U.S. Senate, issued a statement Tuesday arguing that Biden’s term violates the equal protection clause because migrants crossing the southern border illegally do not they are forced to get vaccinated.
“There can be no scientific or serious discussion about containing the spread of COVID-19 that does not begin on our southern border,” Brnovich said.
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 54% of the U.S. population has been completely vaccinated against COVID-19.
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