Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Sunday that “businesses are actually relieved” to be forced to impose vaccination on their employees under President Joe Biden’s mandate.
CNN anchor Dana Bash recalled the Biden administration’s promises not to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory and asked Murthy what made the government rethink that decision.
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“What the president and all of us have said, as public health leaders, from the earliest parts of this pandemic is that we have to use every lever of government, and we all in the private sector have to do everything we can to tackle this virus. The requirements the president announced are an example of that,” Murthy responded.
The surgeon general added that the new sweeping executive order is a logical continuation of the late July decision that made federal employees report their vaccination status.
“The key thing to understand, Dana, is number one, the data tells us these requirements work to increase vaccinations. Number two, a lot of businesses are actually relieved that these are going into place,” Murthy claimed. “We’ve heard a lot of feedback from the business round table and others that this will help us create safer workplaces” (RELATED: ‘A Decision We Applaud’ — Big Business Endorses Biden’s Vaccine Mandate)
Murthy then went on to tout the federal response to the pandemic and commend the actions of the Biden administration which he said has been “working extraordinarily hard to vaccinate people.” He also referred to the mandate as a necessary step to “get to the next phase.”