Document Type

Blog Post

Publication Date

10-7-2021

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic is dominated by one trait. Data shows that nearly all COVID-19 related deaths in the United States are suffered by people who are not vaccinated. Hospitalizations are similarly unbalanced, with unvaccinated patients making up between 95% to 99.9% of the population of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

In response, on September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced an action plan addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The first part of the plan focused on increasing the population of domestically-vaccinated individuals. This first part of the plan can be divided into five policy goals. Four of those plan’s policy goals reference employers and employees, and the fifth consists of a request for large entertainment venues to require their customers provide proof of vaccination. Of the remaining four parts of the plan, the first and fourth call for section Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) emergency temporary standards (ETS): one for employers with more than a hundred workers, and one requiring employers to give workers paid time off in order to get vaccinated. The second policy consists of an Executive Order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for federal employees and another Executive Order aimed at increasing vaccinations for federal contractors. The third policy is made up of a set of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) emergency regulations expanding earlier vaccination requirements to a greater number of health care settings.

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