Millions of health care workers face deadline to get COVID vaccine under Biden mandate
Millions of health care workers have until Jan. 4 to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 under a mandate from President Joe Biden’s administration.
The rule applies to workers at facilities that participate in Medicare or Medicaid — including more than 17 million people, which is the majority of health care workers in the U.S., at more than 76,000 facilities, according to the White House. The new mandate was announced on Nov 4.
“The rule applies to employees regardless of whether their positions are clinical or non-clinical and includes employees, students, trainees and volunteers who work at a covered facility that receives federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid,” the White House said.
Those who provide treatments at the included facilities, including under a contract or “other arrangements,” are also covered by the rule, the White House said.
A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The Biden administration also announced a Jan. 4 deadline for employers with 100 or more employees to get their workers vaccinated or require them to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test at least weekly.
The rule for health workers does not provide the same option to undergo regular testing instead of vaccination.
Biden announced in September, as part of his “Path out of the Pandemic” plan, that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for most health care workers.
“Today’s action will help provide patients assurance about the vaccination status of those delivering care, create a level playing field across health care facilities, and help to address challenges facilities have faced with staff sickness and quarantines impacting delivery of care,” the White House said.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 8:25 AM with the headline "Millions of health care workers face deadline to get COVID vaccine under Biden mandate."
