A White House report insists President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates have helped raise employee vaccination rates by more than 20 percentage points.
Biden early last month announced policies requiring most federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines, and pushing employers of more than 100 employees to essentially force their workers to get vaccinated or be tested weekly.
The White House said Biden’s vaccine mandates “have increased vaccination rates by 20+ percentage points to over 90% in many organizations” in a report published Thursday, as Business Insider reported.
The mandate for private employers has not been enacted yet, though some businesses moved preemptively.
Biden planned to travel to Elk Grove Village, Illinois, on Thursday to meet with public and private sector leaders who have implemented vaccination requirements.
“The president’s message will be clear: Vaccination requirements work,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Wednesday’s press briefing. “Vaccination requirements get more people vaccinated, helping to end the pandemic and strengthen the economy.”
White House officials said more than 25% of businesses and 40% of hospitals had put in place vaccine requirements, with “thousands more” moving ahead with mandates in coming weeks, the Insider reported.
The White House report also said vaccine requirements were in place in colleges and universities serving 37% of all graduates and undergraduate students.
“As data demonstrate, when organizations implement vaccination requirements, vaccination rates have soared to 90% or greater among the workforce,” the report said.
The number of unvaccinated Americans has dropped from 95 million in late July, when the first vaccine requirements for federal government workers were announced, to 67 million, the report said.
The federal government Monday outlined procedures for employees to request medical or religious exemptions from Biden’s mandates.
The Office of Management and Budget released the new guidance ahead of the Nov. 22 deadline for workers to be fully vaccinated, outlining specific medical conditions that would warrant an exemption.
Under the guidelines, agencies are to direct workers to get their first shot within two weeks of an exemption request being denied, or the resolution of a medical condition. They also make clear federal agencies may deny medical or religious exemptions if they determine no other safety protocol is adequate.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
