Monday afternoon, the WH response team said that there are 90 million eligible Americans that have yet to receive the vaccine.
Incentives have been made, paid time off has been made, and bringing vaccines to communities in need have been made. However, it has not been enough to rid the pandemic. Now, many workplaces will require their employees to receive the vaccine.
List of workplaces requiring the vaccine for all employees:
- Department of Veteran Affairs: all nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers will be required to receive the vaccine to work with veterans in need.
- Department of Defense/military: although it has yet to be set in motion, the Department of Defense is looking into how and when they will implement the vaccine to all employees.
- Federal workers and federal contractors: employees that are working for the government will now be asked to show proof of their vaccination status.
- Walmart, Disney, and Google: many chain businesses have already started to require their employees to get the vaccine. Majority of employees that will be required are corporate employees and not frontline workers.
- Universities and hospitals: many universities have made vaccinations a requirement, as well as teaching hospitals where students will be doing rotations.
Because of the efforts made to require more individuals to receive the vaccine, there has been a 70% increase in the average number of vaccinated people. Incentives and requirements are working, and the WH response team hopes that it will lower the number of increased cases.
“While we desperately want to be done with this pandemic, COVID-19 is clearly not done with us,” said Dr. Walensky during a briefing. She went on to emphasize the importance of this upward trend in vaccination rates, and how we will need more vaccinated people to get past the delta variant.
“The delta variant is highly contagious,” said Dr. Walensky. “To put this into perspective, if you get sick with the alpha variant you could infect about two other people. If you get sick with the delta variant, we estimate you can infect about five other unvaccinated people.”
For these reasons it is important for everyone to receive the vaccine. If you are uncomfortable with receiving the vaccine, the CDC recommends that you continue to mask up until you decide to get your shot.
If you have any concerns regarding the vaccine, any healthcare provider in your area would be happy enough to inform you more on the vaccine and its importance.