Policy Briefs
November 12, 2021
OSHA Vaccine Mandate
In conjunction with the CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which covered health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid; OSHA released an additional COVID-19 mandate for all other places of work. The mandate applies to businesses with 100 or more employees, including both full-time and part-time workers, which covers more than 84 million workers and two-thirds of the nation’s private-sector workforce. Workers will have until January 4th to receive the final dose of the vaccine. Those who remain unvaccinated after January 4th will have to provide a negative COVID test to their employer weekly to continue in-person work. However, the future of the mandate remains in question as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay one day after the mandate went into effect. Additionally, 27 states have filed lawsuits calling into question the legality of the mandate.