Skip to main content
Politics

OSHA vaccine rule takes effect, “COVID-19 pill” gets UK approval


According to a senior Biden administration official, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule requiring “employers with 100 or more employees to ensure each of their workers is fully vaccinated or tests negative for COVID at least once a week” takes effect Thursday. The video above includes reaction from legal and business experts. The rule, which President Joe Biden announced back in September, affects 84 million workers. They have until Jan. 4 to be vaccinated before weekly testing begins.

The new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine rule takes effect Thursday, as well, requiring “healthcare workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid are fully vaccinated”. This rule was announced back in September. It affects “more than 17 million workers at approximately 76,000 healthcare facilities around the country”. They also have until Jan. 4 to be fully vaccinated.

“Together, the OSHA and CMS rules, along with the other policies the administration has previously implemented, means that over two thirds of all workers in the United States are now covered by vaccination policies,” the senior administration official said in a background press call on the rules. “Higher vaccination rates protect our workers, reduce hospitalizations and deaths.  This is good for workers and, importantly, this is good for the economy.”

On the same day the OSHA rule takes effect, the United Kingdom became the first country to approve of Merck’s “COVID-19 pill”. The pill, named molnupiravir, was licensed for adults 18 and older who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease.

“Time and again the UK has proven itself to be the world leader in developing cutting edge treatments for NHS patients,” British health secretary Sajid Javid said in a Twitter video. “I am now working with my teams across government and the NHS so that we can urgently get this treatment to the most vulnerable patients as soon as possible.”

Molnupiravir is pending review with regulators in the U.S. and the European Union. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would convene a panel of independent experts to scrutinize the pill’s safety and effectiveness later this month.

Tags: ,

David Michaels, Public Health Professor, George Washington University: “This regulation is structured, so it strongly encourages vaccination. It’s much easier for employers if they just mandate vaccinations, and they put a lot of burden on employees to have to purchase their own testing and masks if the employer doesn’t want to do it. I think that’s an unfortunate choice. I think employers should be providing those things, but the way it’s structured is going to move people into vaccinations very quickly. There certainly will be some industries that decide to wait, and they can wait on the testing program until after the first of the year. But the vaccination program has to start immediately and think we’re going to see some immediate effects and they’ll be very positive.”

“So it’s possible that a judge may decide to stay this law. I think that would be a mistake. I think it’s unlikely to stand up, but I know that there are — There are governors out there. There are members of Congress who are vociferously anti-vaccinations or anti-mask. You know, they’re doing this for political reasons. We need these regulations to save lives and get the country back to normal, and it’s unfortunate that they’re doing this.”

Stephanie Martz, National Retail Federation, General Counsel: “We are suffering under real workforce shortages. We are suffering under supply chain issues, some of which are in turn due to workforce shortages. And so I’m — I’m really concerned about what’s going to happen if employees in even marginal percentages decide that they would rather not work than be subject to mandates like this one. That doesn’t at all reflect our industry’s view of vaccines in general. It’s just reflecting the reality of where we are right now in terms of trying to get employees to come to work every day and help get us through the holiday season.”

Amanda Sonneborn, Employment Lawyer, King & Spalding: “Most employers that we are working with are planning to go ahead and comply. They’re not planning to wait and see whether those challenges succeed. Of course, if the challenges succeed and they don’t have to comply going forward, they would make that change. But most companies that we work with certainly are anticipating going ahead and complying with the rule. I think it’s important to know that, you know, there’s very few states that actually have laws that contradict the position arguably put forwar