OSHA sends draft of vaccine mandate to White House

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Tuesday that it has sent a draft of its emergency temporary standard for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and testing to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 called on OSHA to create such a standard that would apply to employers with more than 100 workers. No details on the mandate were made available Tuesday.

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson issued a statement that OSHA “has been working expeditiously to develop an emergency temporary standard … to protect employees from the spread of coronavirus in the workplace.”

As part of the regulatory process, the agency submitted the initial text of the ETS to the OMB for review, according to the statement. The OMB took more than six weeks to review the last ETS for COVID-19, which only applies to health care workers.