US Legislators require compulsory truck driver vaccination of private firms

Officials are trying to boost vaccination rates by urging private companies to bring in an exclusive vaccination requirement of their employees, including truck drivers.

After the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had fully approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, President Joe Biden asked companies to introduce vaccine requirements for their employees.

Biden publicly stated that the approval of the vaccine would remove all doubts about vaccination, as well as allow businesses, schools and government agencies to impose mandatory vaccination requirements.

“Today I am calling on more countries – more companies, I would say in the private sector, to step up vaccine demands that will reach millions of people,” Biden said. “If you are a business leader, noncommercial leader, state or local government leader who has been waiting for full FDA approval for vaccinations, I urge you to do so — to demand. Do what I did last month and demand of your employees get vaccinated or meet strict requirements.”

Biden previously announced that federal workers must choose between a vaccine or strict testing, masks and social distancing requirements.

Some of America’s largest companies, including Walmart, Walt Disney, Google, Facebook and Uber, introduced obligatory vaccines for workers.

Until now almost all American trucking companies refused to introduce vaccines to workers, but FDA approval and increasing pressure from the federal government may factor into their decision. However, pollings show that the truck community has no interest in vaccinations and with many companies struggling to recruit and retain drivers amid continued supply chain instability caused by the pandemic, it is unlikely that driver vaccination requirements could become widespread anytime soon.

On Tuesday Biden said that all Americans who have postponed vaccinations for a long time should now get vaccinated. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be distributed under the Comirnaty trademark. The vaccine became available in the USA in December.