President Joe Biden called on employers to use a tax credit to provide paid time off to workers to get vaccinated and for businesses to do more to boost the inoculation effort as the U.S. seeks to get shots in more arms.
Biden said the U.S. will achieve its goal on Wednesday of giving 200 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days in office, while pivoting to a new phase of the campaign by urging businesses to make vaccination as accessible as possible.
Biden called on every employer in the U.S. to offer full pay to workers to get a shot, and touted an incentive included in his first COVID-19 aid package that provides tax credits for workers’ wages in companies with fewer than 500 employees.
“I’m calling on every employer — large and small, in every state — to give employees the time off they need to get vaccinated,” Biden said.
The measure was part of the aid package signed into law last month. The Internal Revenue Service is publishing details of the tax credit plan on Wednesday.
The Biden administration is shifting its public focus from increasing supplies of vaccines to persuading people to get shots. That’s taking place as available shots have exceeded demand in some places. The administration is concerned that it won’t be able to control the virus if a sizable part of the population fails to get vaccinated.
“The time is now to open up a new phase of this historic vaccination effort,” Biden said, noting that many hadn’t been eligible to get vaccinated until recently. “If you’ve been waiting for your turn, wait no longer.”
Biden urged people to get shots, saying the “vaccine can save your life,” along with those of friends, relatives and others. He said 90 percent of Americans can get shots within five miles of where they live.
Biden also said he’s “confident” the U.S. can help other countries by supplying vaccine but that there’s not enough supply to do so yet. He said the 200 million shot milestone in the U.S. will be reflected in data released on Thursday.
The tax credit — covering 100 percent of up to $511 in daily wages per employee for those small- and medium-sized firms — is intended to spur people to become vaccinated, which in turn encourages others to get a shot, said administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pandemic fight
Biden’s administration is facing fresh challenges in its fight against the pandemic. Use of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was paused in the U.S. earlier this month after reports of six blood clot cases, one of them fatal, amid roughly 7 million doses administered so far.
Production at a vaccine plant in Baltimore has been delayed, slowing the supply of J&J’s vaccine and displacing manufacturing of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot entirely. AstraZeneca has not yet been authorized for use in the U.S.
Also, production at the Emergent BioSolutions Inc. plant will remain on hold, U.S. regulators said in a report posted Wednesday, after an inspection turned up multiple problems.
Biden has abandoned his pledge of having enough shots for every U.S. adult by May — a goal he set because of the J&J shot’s authorization — and instead now says there will be enough for everyone who wants one, a lower bar.
“We remain confident in our ability to meet the needs that we feel will be out there in the public by the end of May,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, and added that there will be enough supply from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. due by the end of July for 300 million people. “So we are confident we’ll be able to meet the demand in the public.”
J&J says it will still provide 100 million shots to the U.S. government, but is no longer saying when it will do so. It had previously promised them by the end of June.
— With assistance from Elaine Chen and Justin Sink
