LANSING, Mich. – Leaders of multiple Chamber of Commerce groups in Michigan came together to discuss President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for businesses. They argued that the mandate, along with the current worker shortage, puts business owners in a difficult situation.
“What it’s going to do is, it’s going to put job providers in this incredibly difficult position,” Andy Johnston, with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, said.
The groups met virtually on Tuesday (Nov. 9) to react to the vaccine mandate. The mandate covers an estimated 84 million employees. Biden called it necessary to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The mandate requires all businesses with more than 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or test them weekly for COVID.
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“While we object to this government mandate on free enterprise, we’re going to work to help our employers and employees through this. The conflict that this mandate causes, we’re really concerned about what’s going to happen in the work place and worry that it may increase vaccine hesitancy in some areas,” Johnston said.
Many large employers, like several health systems in Metro Detroit, have already issued their own COVID vaccine mandate.
“We have consistently advocated for vaccination as the best path forward for all of us. But for vaccinations to truly make a deep and lasting impact on this pandemic, we need everyone in this fight. There is no greater compassion we can show each other than to be vigilant about safety and preventing the spread of this devastating disease,” Henry Ford Health System’s President of Healthcare Operations and Chief Operation Bob Riney said.