A day after President Biden issued a vaccine mandate, businesses were left to figure out what to do next.
Companies with at least 100 employees will be required to make sure their workforce is either fully vaccinated or show a negative result on a COVID-19 test at least once a week.
There are hundreds of companies in Arizona that employ 100 or more workers.
Many like Banner and Walgreens already require their employees to be fully vaccinated.
“The business community is very much part of the campaign to encourage vaccine usage,” said Arizona Chamber of Commerce spokesman Garrick Taylor.
But Taylor says the chamber is concerned President Biden’s vaccine mandate is a step too far.
“The concern here is that it creates a potentially dangerous precedent whereby the federal government could justify all manner of expensive and onerous mandates combined with stiff fines,” said Taylor.
One concern is the cost of COVID-19 testing.
The Kaiser Family Foundation says depending on who pays for it, the price for a test ranges from $36 to $180.
“The implementation of this in the Arizona workplace is going to vary. You have a number of large employers who have already instituted vaccine mandates. You have others though who are studying this very closely because they have concerns about the potential costs,” Taylor said.
The City of Mesa and business organizations like the Arizona Restaurant Association say they are still in the preliminary stages of assessing the implications of President Biden’s vaccine mandate.
The President wants 80-million more people vaccinated, whether they want the shot or not.
Governor Ducey joined the chorus of Republican lawmakers promising a legal challenge.
