OSHA: companies can legally impose vaccine requirements

As we get closer and closer to a COVID-19 vaccine, employers are now weighing whether they should make it mandatory for their staff, according to Yahoo News.

According to OSHA, companies can legally impose a vaccine requirement.

OSHA has stated that employers can legally impose a flu vaccine requirement on their workforce, but employees have the right to request medical or religious exemptions under federal anti-discrimination laws. Each claim must be evaluated on its own merits, a time-consuming process for employers.

While it may be legal for employers to compel their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, doing so would be a huge, difficult undertaking, says Y. Tony Yang, executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University, who has argued against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“It’s going to have lots of pushback, and lots of people are going to claim exemptions” out of concern about the safety of the vaccine, he says.

A recent Gallup poll found that 42% of Americans say they will not get the COVID-19 vaccine, though the poll was conducted before the recent optimistic vaccine results.