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The Biden-Harris Administration introduces new nationwide vaccination requirements

Mikayla Coleman | News Editor

Since the beginning of his presidency, President Joe Biden has been a huge advocate for the importance of vaccinations among Americans to stop the spread of COVID-19. In September, President Biden asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a set of rules that would require companies with over a hundred employees to get all of their employees vaccinated for COVID.

Since COVID vaccination opened up freely for all Americans 12 and older on April 19, 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken steps to make COVID vaccines available at 80,000 locations across the United States. They have since moved to vaccine requirements — first in federal employees, then to employees of contractors that work for the federal government, and now extending to all businesses that have more than a hundred employees.

The official White House report on vaccination requirements released on Oct. 7 stated this requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses. If employees decide to remain unvaccinated they will be required to produce a negative test result on a weekly basis before reporting to work.

The word “requirement” can cause a knee-jerk reaction for many. It is clear that, in general, the American people do not like to be told what to do, especially by the government. But vaccination requirements have been proven to actually work. The Oct. 7 White House report stated, “Vaccination requirements have increased vaccination rates by 20+ percentage points to over 90% in many organizations.”

OSHA has been faced with the task of writing out the mandate and are working around the clock to make the parameters of the requirements very clear and strong enough to pass legal muster. This is the reasoning behind the slow start to implementation — but it is smartest to iron out all standards as they will most definitely be challenged by those who refuse to comply.

The White House report stated, “Without vaccination requirements, we face endless months of chaos in our hospitals, further detrimental impacts on our economy, and anxiety in our schools. With them, we will accelerate our path out of the pandemic.”

Contact the author at newseditor@thewesternhowl.com

Western’s Pacific Room is being used to allocate COVD-19 vaccine during Phase 1A

Sydney Carpenter | News Editor

Last week, West Valley Hospital relocated their second distribution site for the COVID-19 vaccine from the Polk County fairgrounds to Western’s campus.

“We were able to put up our first week there,” said Pathway Program and Community Outreach Administrator Jenny Von Derahe. “We moved here because it’s a central location and the technology is adequate for our needs.”

According to Von Derahe, the clinic was furnished in a day with the help of hospital facility workers, the environmental services team and kitchen staff.

“It feels safer and more comfortable than the fairgrounds,” said Polk County resident Wendy Brockhouse. “It just seemed weird in the big old barns … this just seems more a part of the community and safer.”

At this time Western is not charging West Valley to rent out the Pacific Room. According to Von Derahe, Western is not funding employment for the workers or volunteers of the clinic, however there are discussions of potentially allowing Western students interested in the medical field to volunteer at the clinic. Additionally, the clinic is not administering vaccines to administrators, faculty, staff or students unless they qualify within Phase 1A.

“One positive that’s come out is the collaborations that have taken place,” said Western Alumnus and District 1 Polk County Fire Chief Ben Stange.

Stange explained that Western has worked extensively with the community to facilitate a functional clinic on its campus.

“The Pacific Room would normally be used for this or that … but we (Western) can’t have events so it’s available. So what can we do to help the larger cause,”said Stange.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, Polk County has partially vaccinated 8.5% of its population and fully vaccinated less than 1% of the population.

“It’s been such a huge deal to our people,” said Stange. “We were transporting positive patients every couple days, and it’s been difficult to see. The opportunity to actually hands on start to fix a problem that we’ve really felt we’ve had zero control over has been nice.”

Stange explained that, just like other health care professionals, their focus is to take care of people during emergency situations.

“There hasn’t been anything really till this moment that we’ve felt like we can do to make a large impact,” said Stange.

At this time, West Valley is charging a $60 administration fee for the vaccine that will be billed to the patient’s insurance. If uninsured, the hospital waives the fee. Due to the unpredictability of vaccine dose delivery, clinics are not open daily. To learn about hours and vaccination qualifications, visit their website at salemhealth.org.

Contact the author at scarpenter18@mail.wou.edu

The Western Howl

Vaccine requirements are increased over the U.S.

The Western Howl

West Valley Hospital moves second vaccine distribution site to WOU

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