Surgeon General Defends New Vaccination Requirements: ‘A Lot of Businesses Are Actually Relieved That These Are Going Into Place’

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy appeared on CNN Sunday to defend the new vaccination policy for businesses announced by President Joe Biden last week.

Dana Bash brought up comments the president made back in December saying he wouldn’t demand vaccines be mandatory, to ask Murthy “what changed.”

Biden said last week businesses with over 100 employees will need to mandate vaccinations, in addition to regular testing for unvaccinated workers.

Murthy told Bash this is just part of the administration’s overall strategy to combat covid, particularly given concerns about hospitals struggling with covid-19 patients.

“The data tells us these requirements work to increase vaccinations,” he said. “A lot of businesses are actually relieved that these are going into place. We’ve heard a lot of feedback from the business roundtable and others that this will help us create safer workplaces.”

Bash asked about the criticism from some that this should have been in place sooner.

Murthy said the administration has taken serious “aggressive actions” to save lives over the past few months, adding that the spread of the delta variant “required us to take another set of actions.”

Some Republican governors have publicly railed against the new guidelines. In response, Murthy reiterated, “The reason we are pursuing some of these requirements, again, is we know a lot of businesses have welcomed it.”

You can watch above, via CNN.