Haynes Boone Partner Jason Habinsky talked with CBS News MoneyWatch for an article about how Food and Drug Administration clearance of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine paves the way for more employers to require workers to get vaccinated.
Below is an excerpt:
Although a number of businesses, colleges and other organizations were already requiring workers to be inoculated, many corporations have been hesitant to implement a mandate for a drug not yet fully approved by regulators. Labor attorneys expect Monday's announcement by the FDA to open the floodgates for mandates across the board.
"The FDA's approval is a real game changer for the workplace," said Jason Habinsky, an employment attorney at Haynes Boone, a Dallas, Texas-based law firm. "Employers essentially have the blessing of the federal government that the vaccine is safe and effective and approved, and an employer is no longer making a unilateral judgment call on whether or not the vaccine is effective. So this really gets employers across the finish line in terms of being comfortable mandating it in the workplace."
… On the same day the FDA granted the Pfizer vaccine full approval, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced that public school teachers and staff must be vaccinated.
More corporations are expected to swiftly follow suit, according to experts. Employers that insisted they would make vaccination mandatory pending FDA authorization now have the green light to do so.
"I've had a lot of employers who were on the fence for various reasons, and I've already received phone calls from clients convinced this is the support they've needed," Habinsky said.
For example, United Airlines earlier this month said employees will be required to verify that they've been vaccinated within five weeks of the FDA fully approving a vaccine or by October 25, whichever came first.
To read the full article, click here. CBS News also republished portions of the article.
