President Biden Announces New COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements, OSHA to Initiate New Standard and Enforcement

President Biden announced on September 9^th broad COVID-19 vaccine requirements that will impact approximately 100 million Americans.  The President noted that 174 million Americans have been vaccinated and that measures are required to curb the spread of the virus.  Provided below is a summary of the actions announced by the White House:

1. Federal Employees and Contractors – President Biden signed an Executive Order requiring all government employees and federal contractors be vaccinated, with no option of opting out with regular testing.   Additional guidance on the scope of this requirement is expected before September 24, 2021.

2. Businesses with 100 or More Employees – OSHA to require all businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week, and to provide paid time off to allow employees to get vaccinated and recover from any adverse reactions.  These requirements will be imposed through a new OSHA emergency temporary standard to be issued “in the coming weeks.”  OSHA could also use this an opportunity to expand the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to apply to industries beyond healthcare.

3. Health Care Workers – The 17 million healthcare workers at facilities receiving funds from Medicare and Medicaid will have to be fully vaccinated, expanding an existing vaccinate mandate for nursing care facilities to hospitals, homecare facilities and dialysis centers around the country.

4. Entertainment Venues – Entertainment venues like sports arenas, concert halls, and other sites where large groups of people gather are asked to require patrons to be vaccinated or show a negative test for entry. 

5. Federal Programs and Schools – The 300,000 educators in federal Head Start programs must be vaccinated and the President called on governors to require vaccinations for schoolteachers and staff in their states. 

Exemptions to these requirements will be limited to those that are required by existing law; i.e., medical and religious reasons.  President Biden made it clear that the way out of the pandemic is through vaccination and said that vaccinated America was growing "frustrated" with the 80 million people who have not received shots.

The announcement was met with mixed reviews from various industries and public officials, with some strongly supporting the initiative and others opposing new mandates and announcing legal action would be forthcoming.  It’s expected that the administration will take an aggressive stance in enforcing these requirements.  OSHA would have the ability to fine non-complying businesses in the same manner it does for any other regulatory violation – up to approx. $14,000 per Serious or Other-than-Serious violation.

NASF will continue to monitor developments on this issue and provide members with updates as further decisions are made. 

This update is courtesy of the National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF). For more information or to become a member, visit nasf.org.