Representatives from Connecticut Business and Health Communities applaud Biden’s vaccine initiative | Connecticut

(The Center Square) – Members of Connecticut’s businesses and medical communities are applauding President Joe Biden’s proposed mandate for large companies to vaccinate their employees against COVID-19 or be tested weekly, according to a report.

Chris DiPentima, President and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said to the Hartford Courant the mandate is a “bold move”.

“A bold move was needed because we need everyone to be vaccinated,” DiPentima, who heads the state’s largest business lobbying group, told Courant. “We need to get everyone vaccinated. This is the best way to defeat the pandemic and start our economic recovery. “

Biden’s proposed tenure, which was announced Thursday, would require companies with more than 100 employees to encourage weekly vaccinations or tests to be performed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

As of Friday afternoon, the state had more than 378,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 364 hospital patients in the state. There have been 8,416 deaths from COVID-19, the state’s COVID-19 tracker reported.

CVS Health Corp. and Stanley Black & Decker told Courant “they will make decisions after studying the new rules” for vaccinations and testing, when every company has already taken preventative action by requiring employees to be vaccinated.

CVS, in a press release on its website, said it is demanding that some employees who interact with patients “be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 31”.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, our decision-making process has been guided by health, safety and science,” said Karen S. Lynch, President and CEO of CVS Health.