“The Hill”, a US daily newspaper, said that the rapidly spreading the "Omicron" variant in the United States of America (USA) poses a problem for the White House, as officials try to convince the skeptical public that forcing access to the vaccine is necessary.
Opponents of the mandates are exploiting early evidence showing that the anti-Corona vaccines are not effective in stopping transmission of the new strain, which they say undermines the administration's main arguments for its support.
And this week, airlines were forced to cancel thousands of in/ out flights, as the Corona variant infected flight crews and other staff.
Many US airlines are requiring their employees to be fully vaccinated, and anti-commissioning groups have claimed that hundreds of healthy crew members have been sidelined and unable to help alleviate the worst of the shortages due to their vaccination status.
Administration officials have identified vaccine mandates for health workers, and authorization or testing requirements for large employers, as essential tools to vaccinate more people.
While vaccines do not necessarily prevent a person from contracting the Coronavirus (COVID-19), they do significantly reduce the chances of hospitalization or death.
If mandates lead to more people getting vaccinated, it could also reduce pressure on the country's health care system if waves of people become infected.
More than 85 percent of adults in the United States over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but nearly 40 percent of all Americans remain unvaccinated.
"We feel that vaccination or testing rules will ensure that companies enact measures that protect employees and create more certainty for the economy," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a news briefing. We don't feel this is the time for organizations to step back from these requirements.”
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