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Source: AP Photo/Taimy Alvarez
Now that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, Americans across the country – particularly frontline workers like nurses, doctors, EMTs and other first responders – are wondering what the guidelines are for receiving the drugs. Some Americans also want to know if an employer can legally require them to get the vaccination now that it is becoming readily available.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Wednesday issued guidelines saying employers can require their employees to obtain the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine. The federal agency said this requirement does not violate the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, commonly referred to as the ADA.
January 14, 2021
After months of waiting, the first COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed across the U.S. And a lot of people have questions. When will it be available? Who can get it? Is it safe?
We have answers.
We’ll be adding to this FAQ as new information becomes available. Bookmark it and come back for the latest information.
When will the COVID-19 vaccine be available?
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The first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine became available Monday, Dec. 14 to health care workers across the nation. But widespread public vaccination isn’t expected to start until late winter or early spring, though timelines might shift.
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People handing out hand sanitizer on the streets in São Paulo, Brazil, on Friday.Credit.Victor Moriyama for The New York Times
As the coronavirus continues its surge across the United States and Europe, where vaccinations recently began, total infections around the world have now topped 75 million.
In the United States, more than 128,000 people had been vaccinated as of Friday, according to a New York Times database tracking vaccinations. But that total is just slightly more than half the number of new cases reported across the country the same day.
The United States, the world’s largest coronavirus hot spot with more than 17.6 million people who have been infected over all, on Friday reported its first single-day caseload of more than 250,000 new infections.
December 19, 2020
Employers can require workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine and bar them from the workplace if they refuse, the federal government said in guidelines issued this week.
Public health experts see employers as playing an important role in vaccinating enough people to reach herd immunity and get a handle on a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans. Widespread coronavirus vaccinations would keep people from dying, restart the economy and usher a return to some form of normalcy, experts say.
Employers had been waiting for guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination, because requiring employees be tested for the coronavirus touches on thorny medical and privacy issues covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.