Members of the business and medical communities in Connecticut are applauding President Joe Biden’s proposed mandate for large businesses to have their employees vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested on a weekly basis, according to a news report.
Chris DiPentima, president and chief executive for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, told the Hartford Courant the mandate is a “bold move.”
“A bold move was needed because we need everyone to be vaccinated,” DiPentima, who leads the largest business lobbying group in the state, told the Courant. “We need to get everyone vaccinated. It’s the best way of defeating the pandemic and starting our economic recovery.”
Biden’s proposed mandate, which was announced Thursday, would require those businesses with more than 100 employees to encourage vaccinations or weekly tests that would be performed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
As of Friday afternoon, the state had more than 378,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 364 patients hospitalized in the state. There have been 8,416 COVID-19 deaths, the state’s COVID-19 tracker reported.
CVS Health Corp. and Stanley Black & Decker told the Courant “they would make decisions after studying the new rules” when it comes to vaccinations and testing, while each company has already taken preventive steps by requiring employee vaccinations.
CVS, in a news release on its website, said it was requiring certain employees who interact with patients “to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Oct. 31.”
“From the start of the pandemic, our decision-making process has been driven by health, safety and science,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said in the release.
This article was originally posted on Representatives from Connecticut’s business, health communities applaud Biden’s vaccine initiative
