Business Roundtable Statement on White House Call to Action on Vaccination

Washington - Business Roundtable President & CEO Joshua Bolten today issued the following statement after the White House’s call to action for businesses of all sizes to take additional steps to help employees get vaccinated:

“Business Roundtable applauds the White House’s leadership on the vaccination rollout and engagement with the private sector to ensure the effort is both effective and efficient. Since the beginning of the pandemic, America’s business leaders have played a critical role to help defeat COVID-19. Business Roundtable companies are lending their expertise and resources to public health agencies in helping to dispatch doses of vaccines more efficiently. Many Roundtable member companies provide paid time off and incentives to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. 

“There’s more work to be done to help accelerate vaccine uptake. Business Roundtable encourages all employers to double down on existing efforts to reduce barriers to vaccinations and offer full pay to their employees for any time off needed to get vaccinated and recover from side effects.”

Business Roundtable in February launched, “Move the Needle,” a national campaign to support the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, increase vaccine uptake and encourage individuals to continue practicing safety measures. In addition to producing, distributing and administering the vaccines, Business Roundtable companies are: 

• Participating in a #MovetheNeedle CEO-to-CEO Challenge to share how companies are encouraging employees to get vaccinated and other efforts to help defeat the pandemic. 
• Promoting vaccination and safety measures in Business Roundtable public service announcements (PSAs) here and here.
• Building vaccine confidence and uptake among Americans, especially those who are hesitant to receive the vaccine, partnering with the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative on a $50M public education campaign, including this PSA with former Presidents and First Ladies.
• Providing businesses of all sizes with COVID-19 prevention and vaccine education resources for employees through the Health Action Alliance, launched by Business Roundtable, the Ad Council, the CDC Foundation, the de Beaumont Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Hundreds of examples of how companies are “moving the needle” and encouraging employee vaccination can be found here.