This vaccination requirement, which concerns employees of companies with more than 100 people, medical workers and employees of federal agency contractors, is one of the most radical measures taken by the United States government in an attempt to '' contain the epidemic that is undermining the economic recovery.

As of January 4, 2022, employees must either have received their last dose of vaccine or begin to undergo at least one test per week.

"Vaccination is the best way out of this pandemic," commented US President Joe Biden in a statement, assuring that he would "have preferred to avoid this obligation, (but) too many people remain unvaccinated for us to be able to do. go out definitively ".

Joe Biden unveiled this measure, supposed to affect more than two-thirds of the country's workforce, in September, during a speech at the White House.

"Vaccination is the most effective way to protect workers against this deadly virus," Labor Secretary Marty Walsh insisted Thursday morning at a press conference call.

Outcry in the Republican opposition

But in the country of individual freedoms, the measure provokes an outcry in the Republican opposition, which denounces a "dictatorship".

Convincing reluctant adults to receive the vaccine is no easy task, especially as several American states, including Texas, have already banned vaccine obligations on their soil.

But the White House warned that this new obligation takes precedence over any rule made by a state or local authority, "including laws that prohibit or limit an employer's power to require vaccinations, masks or tests." .

A demonstration against the vaccine requirement for federal workers, November 1, 2021 in Pasadena (California) Robyn Beck AFP / Archives

"The point is, vaccine bonds work," a senior US official said, predicting that they "would lead to millions of Americans getting vaccinated."

Several large American groups, including the meat giant Tyson Foods or the airline United Airlines, had already prepared the ground by imposing these obligations on their employees at the end of September.

Joe Biden assured that "there has been no + mass layoffs + nor a shortage of workers caused by vaccine obligations".

"Employers who have implemented vaccination programs in their workplace are, for the most part, incredibly successful with more than 95% of workers in good standing with the vaccination requirement," said Deputy Labor Secretary Jim. Frederick, in a press conference call Thursday.

This will become, according to him, "the standard in the vast majority of workplaces which apply a vaccination obligation".

Up to $ 136,000 in fines

And for those who are resistant to the vaccine and to regular tests, it is up to the employer to take the measures it deems appropriate, the law "does not prevent employers from using disciplinary measures", he stressed. .

On the business side, those who would be tempted not to enforce the law face a fine ranging from $ 13,000 to $ 136,000, detailed Mr. Frederick, but "we know that the vast majority of workplaces will be in order."

In addition, the threshold of 100 employees was chosen because these companies "have the administrative capacity to implement correctly" this measure, he added.

But the obligation could be extended to smaller companies, a consultation being under way, specified the legal official of the ministry, Seema Nanda.

A person gets vaccinated against Covid-19 at a medical center in Los Angeles, United States, August 23, 2021 Robyn Beck AFP / Archives

In a survey released last month by the Society for Human Resource Management, however, 90% of employers surveyed felt it was difficult to enforce this vaccination requirement.

Fueled since the summer by the Delta variant, the pandemic has already killed 750,000 people in the United States.

President Biden, elected at the head of the world's leading economic power almost a year ago to the day, has made the fight against Covid-19 one of the hallmarks of his presidency.

But the American vaccination campaign, which has been carried out with full speed, has run out of steam, boosting contamination rates and partly slowing down the economic recovery.

© 2021 AFP