What you need to know about President Joe Biden’s new Covid vaccine mandates

President Joe Biden’s latest vaccination push is the most aggressive effort his administration has made to control the rapid coronavirus pandemic.

Critics see the president’s move as a reversal of his earlier promise to avoid vaccination mandates. Federal health officials, however, believe it is the next step in the fight against the highly contagious delta variant, which kills more than 1,500 Americans each day, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, and fill hospitals with unvaccinated pockets. the country to the brink.

“We will protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated co-workers,” Biden said Thursday in announcing the plan. “We will reduce the spread of Covid-19 by increasing the share of vaccinated labor in companies across America.”

The timeshare approach affects hundreds of public and private companies and tens of millions of American workers. It orders vaccines and eliminates testing options for federal government employees, including those in the health care sector, and demands strict sanctions for those who fail to comply.

Here’s what you need to know about Biden’s latest offering to vaccinate more Americans.

Federal employees and contractors working with the government face renewed vaccine warrants and will no longer have the option to perform periodic Covid tests.

“If you want to work with the federal government and do business with us, get vaccinated,” Biden said. “If you want to do business with the federal government, vaccinate your staff.”

Healthcare workers also face strict mandates. The president has ordered all health care institutions that receive federal Medicaid or Medicare funding to allocate vaccines to their staff with no testing option.

Previously, the Biden administration only required the vaccination of employees of U.S. nursing homes that received federal funding. Some states, including New York and Maine, had already forced health workers to be vaccinated.

The new rules will affect more than 17 million health care workers in more than 50,000 hospitals and health centers in the United States.

“If you seek care at a health center, you should know that the people who treat you are vaccinated,” Biden said. “Simple, simple point.”

The president also ordered the vaccination of all staff in the federal government’s Head Start programs. The order extends to schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Defense, which affect about 300,000 people in total, according to Chalkbeat, a news organization that covers education.

Despite the wide reach of the president’s push, most U.S. workers, more than 80 million, will still have the option to prove they don’t carry the virus by taking weekly Covid tests.

To increase the pace of daily catches, which have slowed after a rebound in mid-August, the president ordered the Department of Labor to create a new rule that would force any company with more than 100 employees to require vaccines for its employees or weekly Covid tests for workers citing religious or health reasons for not getting vaccinated. However, the reasons for choosing to exclude it are likely to be further examined by employers in the future.

The new standard will be implemented by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. OSHA may issue a temporary emergency standard if it demonstrates that employees are at risk and that the proposed standard can prevent that hazard.

Employers will also be asked to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated. This applies to both the public and private sectors.

“No one should lose their salary to get vaccinated or bring a loved one to get vaccinated,” Biden said.

Most Americans support vaccination mandates in the workplace, and 62% of Americans support the idea, according to an August poll by USA Today and Ipsos.

Still, among 29% of unvaccinated U.S. voters, 83% say they have no plans to get life-saving shots, according to a new CNBC poll.

Employees who fail to comply with the new mandates could face a number of consequences, including termination, as companies feel pressure to fall in line.

Companies will face a $ 13,600 fine for violating the OSHA rule, although the new rules could take some time to implement and enforce. OSHA has experienced a steady decline in the workforce and currently provides one inspector for every 83,000 workers, according to the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States.

In his announcement, Biden wondered why 80 million Americans have not yet been shot after being free and accessible and were approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“What’s more to look forward to? What’s more to see?” Biden said. “We’ve had patience, but our patience is running out.”

Biden appealed to those who had large entertainment venues, sports areas and cinemas to demand vaccination or proof of a negative entry. New York City and San Francisco already require vaccination tests for activities such as eating indoors and attending movie and entertainment theaters, with New York needing to check at least one dose and San Francisco to check full vaccination .

Biden also called on doctors across the country to “reach unvaccinated patients … and make a personal call to them to get the vaccine.”

About 75% of American adults have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine and about 54% of all Americans are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts are still divided on what percentage of a population should be vaccinated so that the population can achieve herd immunity, although estimates range from 70% to 90%.

“It’s not about freedom or personal choice. It’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” Biden said.