During his White House remarks on the COVID-19 vaccination situation in the country, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged small or large business firms to give their employees paid leaves to get vaccinated and recover from the side effects.

“One concern I have heard from so many Americans is that they can’t afford to take the time off to get vaccinated or lose a day’s work because they are feeling slightly under the weather after their shot, ” Biden said during his briefing.

“No working American should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they choose to fulfil their patriotic duty of getting vaccinated,” instructed Biden.

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Meanwhile, to make sure that the “small or medium-sized businesses, with fewer than 500 employees,” get reimbursed for the cost of providing paid leave to employees, Biden announced a program.

“I’m announcing a program to address that issue nationwide. I’m calling on every employer, large and small, in every state to give employees the time off they need, with pay, to get vaccinated,” he continued.

Biden said further instructions will be posted by the Internal Revenue Services on how employers can get reimbursed.

“That reimbursement, which comes through a tax payment, is thanks to the program I launched in the American Rescue Plan. So, again, every employee should get paid leave to get a shot. Businesses should know they can provide it without a hit to their bottom line,” Biden said.

“There’s no excuse for not getting it done.”

Meanwhile, the President announced the US has crossed his administration’s goal of 200 million COVID-19 vaccines administered in his first 100 days.

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“When tomorrow’s vaccination numbers come out, it’ll show that today, we did it. Today we hit 200 million shots on the 92nd day in office. 200 million shots in 100 days, in under 100 days actually. It’s an incredible achievement for the nation,” the 78-year-old added.

He also informed that by tomorrow 80% of the population over 65 years of age will have received at least one shot of the COVID vaccine. 

Biden encouraged all Americans to get vaccinated as he opened the gates for anyone above 16 years of age.

“To put it simply, if you’ve been waiting for your turn, wait no longer. Now is the time for everyone over 16 years of age to get vaccinated,” Biden said.

Noting that “the broad swath of American adults still remain largely unvaccinated,” Biden outlined two reasons why all Americans need to get vaccinated: to save lives and to protect communities.