Federal workers to be granted paid leave to get their children vaccinated

Federal workers in the United States will be able to take paid leave to get their children vaccinated, the government announced on Wednesday. The FDA authorized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children five through 11 years of age this week. 

As per a memo released by the government’s HR agency (Office of Personnel Management), federal agencies are directed to grant employees up to four hours of administrative leave per dose. 

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Only earlier this week, President Joe Biden had said that the federal government should “work to aggressively maximize” the number of people getting vaccinated, the guidance said. With FDA’s latest approval, about 28 million more children in the United States are eligible to receive the two-dose vaccine, CNN reported. 

Federal workers were eligible to take paid leaves for their own vaccination. For private sector workers, the decision still depends on their employers, whether the workers can take paid time off to take their children to get vaccinated.

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The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies that have more than 100 employees. Building on that, January 4 was set as the deadline for getting a COVID vaccine.

This also extends to workers at health care facilities that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients. It also extended a deadline for federal contractors.

The Biden administration says 70% of all adult Americans are now fully vaccinated. The new rules are aimed at the tens of millions who remain unvaccinated.