ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Missouri Chamber of Commerce disagrees with the federal vaccine mandate and says it will be a "detriment" to attracting people back to work.
CEO Dan Mehan says the workplace mandate would impact 3,700 employers in the state. He says the government should encourage voluntary vaccination, like the Chamber is doing with its "COVID Stops Here" campaign.
Take a listen to the full interview with Mehan on St. Louis Talks:
"It's simple, we've had a longstanding position that no government should mandate how business is operated," Mehan says. "This is going to be divisive and a determent to attracting people back to work and new opportunities in those companies that have over 100 people on staff."
Last week, President Joe Biden announced a six-prong approach that he believes could reduce the impact of the Delta variant. It includes “an emergency rule" to require all employers with at least 100 workers to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or are showing weekly proof of negative tests.
Related
He also says the plan "fraught with problems," and asks why now and not months ago, why is the threshold 100 employee, who is going to pay for testing if employees don't get the vaccine and how will it be monitored?
He also pointed out that businesses could be hit with $14,000 fines as punishment for violating the mandate.
"There's a better way. It's called encouragement, not punishment," he says.
He says 83% of Missouri businesses say they're encouraging the vaccine for employees.
''At a time when employers are trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels, Missouri is about 75% recovered from the job loss, this is going to be divisive and detrimental to attracting people back to work," Mehan says.
Related
© 2021 KMOX (Audacy). All rights reserved
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Follow KMOX
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram