Biden, industry leaders discuss mandates to boost vaccinations

President Biden on Wednesday met virtually with business, university and health care leaders who have instituted vaccine mandates or testing requirements to discuss how to get more Americans vaccinated and end the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attendees of the meeting included Greg A. Adams, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente; Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, president of Howard University; Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines; and Diane E. Sumpter, president and CEO of DESA, Inc.

During the closed meeting, the industry leaders talked about why they decided to require vaccinations and how they are implementing these mandates. 

Mr. Biden asked each of the four leaders to share best practices around vaccine requirements with others in their industries and expressed hope that other employers would follow their lead. 

Ms. Sumpter, who is mandating DESA employees to get vaccinated or to submit to weekly testing, said she had been considering the requirements for a few weeks. DESA is a Columbia, South Carolina, firm that serves minority-owned businesses and employs about 20 people.

“It was the president’s encouragement for all businesses to take action and his message about the moral imperative of vaccines that I ultimately decided this was the right step for me and my employees. It’s clear that vaccines are the path back to normal,” she said. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the meeting with the company leaders was more of a discussion about what is working for the industries rather than about making decisions. 

“Today is an example of us lifting up the private sector taking steps that make sense that show that vaccines are safe, effective and the best ways for people to re-enter the workplace safely and boost our economy,” Ms. Psaki said at a press briefing Wednesday. “I would note that this was intentionally a diverse group of industries: the airline industry, university systems, healthcare industry, small businesses. We wanted to share the work they are doing and support these efforts.”

Mr. Biden has supported efforts by companies and local governments to get more people vaccinated and asked the private sector for help in boosting vaccinations. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Reuters last week that the Biden administration is looking into what authority businesses have to require vaccines.  

Mr. Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, said he is encouraged to see more companies and organizations require vaccinations. The major airline announced last week that it will require employees in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by late October — or even earlier. 

“I think, not just in aviation, this is going to be, a few weeks from now, this is going to be something that’s widespread across the country because it’s really a basic safety issue,” he told CNN. “I think it’s inevitable that safety is going to win the day and this is largely going to become a requirement at most places of employment.” 

“I know a year from now, even if there are some people who are unhappy with me about doing this, that there will be some people who are alive who otherwise wouldn’t have been because we required the vaccine,” he added. 

Last month, Mr. Biden announced that health care workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs must get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Department of Defense also plans to require COVID-19 vaccinations for service members. 

State governments, universities and other businesses have also instituted vaccination or testing mandates. On Tuesday, D.C. officials announced vaccine requirements for government workers, joining Maryland and Virginia. More than 600 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. are requiring coronavirus vaccines for students, staff or both, according to a tracker by The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Some large U.S. corporations including Walmart, Google, Facebook and Tyson Foods have also jumped on board and imposed vaccine mandates for staff. 

The mandates come as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread and drive up new coronavirus infections. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 7-day moving average of 89,977 daily new cases as of Friday, a nearly 34% increase compared with the previous weekly moving average of 67,274. The moving average of 89,977 daily new cases is about 31% higher than the peak observed last July but about 65% lower than the peak observed in January. However, it is much higher, nearly 683%, than the lowest number of cases observed in June. 

The coronavirus has infected more than 36 million people and taken the lives of more than 618,000 in the U.S., a Johns Hopkins tally shows. 

About 61% of the U.S. adults were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday while about 71% were at least partially vaccinated, the CDC estimates.