Biden will urge all employers to give workers paid time off for COVID vaccine

President Joe Biden on Wednesday will call on all businesses to give employees paid time off to get their COVID vaccine as the inoculation rate in some parts of the US has started to drop.

‘The president believes that no one should have to lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they got vaccinated. Plain and simple,’ said a senior administration official on a call previewing the president’s remarks.

In his speech, Biden will tout hitting his goal of 200 million shots in the arms of Americans by his 100th day of office while outlining his administration’s plans to drive up the vaccination rate even further.

His call for paid time off to be vaccinated will apply to business big and small and include allowing employees paid time off if they feel any side effects from the vaccine.  

‘By providing paid time off for employees to get vaccinated, employers will not only be investing in their workforce, they’ll be investing in a safer workplace. Getting 10s of millions of working Americans vaccinated is the key to getting our country back to normal,’ the official said.

Additionally, the president will announce that businesses with fewer than 500 employees will be eligible for a tax credit where they will be able to get reimbursed for any vaccination related paid time off they provide up to $511 per day, per employee. 

The United States is set to meet President Joe Biden’s latest vaccine goal of administering 200 million coronavirus shots in his first 100 days in office as the White House steps up efforts to inoculate the rest of the public 

 

 

The White House claims their data shows that 85% of adults want paid time off to be vaccinated and that employers can be effective in reaching the remaining unvaccinated population. 

Biden’s call will come as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows vaccination rates are lower among young adults.

The White House argued the declining vaccination rate was not due to vaccine hesitancy but merely a matter of convenience. 

‘We don’t think that we’re talking about a group of people that are quote unquote vaccine hesitant,’ the senior administration official said. ‘We think we are now approaching groups of people who are just by the fact that they’re younger, they are less at risk, and therefore the urgency might be a little bit lower. It doesn’t mean that they’re hesitant to get the vaccine, it just means it needs to be more convenient for them.’

The administration is turning its focus to the ‘next big opportunity – working adults,’ the official said. 

On Monday, every state opened up its COVID guidelines to allow all adults to be vaccinate, per a call from Biden. The White House is pushing to get shots in the arms of Americans, opening up mass vaccine sites and sending doses to pharmacies across the country.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Biden will announce that, as of Thursday, 200 million Americans have received one shot – a week ahead of his goal to pass that marker by his first 100 days in office.

In recent weeks the White House has launched a massive outreach campaign to Americans to get vaccinated, relying on funding from the $1.9 trillion virus relief package passed last month to launch ads and fund direct community engagement to under-vaccinated constituencies.

Biden set his goal of 200 million shots last month after meeting his 100 million-in-100 days goal just over a month ago. 

At the time the U.S. was well on pace to meet the higher target, and the pace of vaccinations has only accelerated, to about 3 million shots per day.

According to CDC data, 50% of the country’s total adult population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and about  84 million American adults – or 33% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.