(Los Angeles) When US authorities announced they would introduce a COVID-19 vaccination commitment in departments and businesses, some expected waves of layoffs or resignations that would jeopardize the fragile economic recovery.
That’s not the case, and the vaccine commitment, reiterated by President Joe Biden on Thursday, appears to have paid off.
Aside from a few pockets of resistance, a large number of Americans who were waiting and seeing or hesitating finally received the injection.
Dr. said.s Bradley Bullock, professor of public health sciences at the University of California, Davis. “It’s really very good,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Sacramento B.
At the beginning of November, more than 58% of the American population was fully vaccinated, compared to only about 50% in August when the first vaccine commitments were announced.
” The best way ”
The government decided Thursday that as of January 4, 2022, tens of millions of American employees affected by the measure must have received their last dose of the vaccine, or else they will have at least one test per week.
These are employees of companies of more than 100 people, health workers and all contractors with federal agencies.
President Joe Biden commented in a statement on this by saying, “Vaccination is the best way out of this epidemic,” stressing that he “would have preferred to evade this obligation, [mais] A lot of people remain unvaccinated until we can get out permanently.”
PHOTO JIM WATSON, Agence France-Presse Archives
President Joe Biden
This rule affects more than two-thirds of American workers. Other private sector employees are already subject to similar obligations issued by their employers, such as United Airlines. The airline has warned its 67,000 employees that they will face layoffs if they do not get an injection on time.
As of Thursday, only 2,000 of them had requested exemptions on medical or religious grounds, and most of the rest had received the shot.
At the giant meat company Tyson Foods, whose activities were severely disrupted at the beginning of the epidemic, 120,000 employees were scheduled to be vaccinated in 1He is November.
From less than 50% in early August, their vaccination rate had risen to 96% by Thursday, according to The New York Times.
The US military, which has also adopted a very strict policy in this area, has a vaccine coverage of 95%.
The vast majority of employees agree with this commitment, if we are to believe the AFL-CIO, the country’s main union gathering, which welcomes the “step in the right direction.”
” no choice ”
Some sectors remain resistant, and often refuse the commitment placed on them more than the vaccine itself. This is particularly the case among law enforcement or firefighters, where the vaccination rate is often below average, despite the many epidemic-related deaths in these occupations.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff said only 43% of police officers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Sheriff Alex Villanueva called for the county to suspend the commitment, saying it “undermines the ability to ensure public safety.”
PHOTO ASHLEE REZIN, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES VIA AP
A demonstration against compulsory vaccination of police officers was held in front of Chicago City Hall on October 25.
In Chicago, several thousand police officers are at risk of ending up on unpaid leave.
And in New York City, police officers alone make up about half of the city’s workers who have applied for medical or religious exemptions. There is no major religion that prevents its followers from receiving a vaccination that health authorities consider safe and effective.
Reluctance is found in all strata of American society.
Caleb Massey, who works at NASA, was among dozens of protesters who protested this week outside the Jet Propulsion Laboratory center near Los Angeles.
Like other federal employees, he faces termination if he does not provide proof of vaccination by December 8.
He applied for a religious exemption but said he was ready to lose his job. “I can swear to you that I will not receive this vaccine,” he confirms to AFP, refusing not to give him a “choice”.
Many elected officials, most of them Republicans, have denounced these commitments which they believe trample on sacred individual liberties and which they compare to a “dictatorship.”
Many US states, such as Texas, have banned all vaccination requirements on their territory.
The pandemic, fueled by the delta variable since the summer, has killed more than 750,000 people in the United States.
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