Terry McAuliffe Calls On All Virginia Employers to Require COVID-19 Vaccination on Heels of FDA Approval of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

From the Terry McAuliffe for Governor campaign…a STARK difference with the anti-science, anti-public-health, know-nothing Youngkin campaign.

MCLEAN, VA – Following the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement granting full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Terry McAuliffe called on all Virginia employers to require the COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible employees. This follows recents announcements from Terry urging Virginia health systems and school divisions to institute vaccine requirements, measures that are critical to keeping Virginians safe and the Commonwealth’s economy running strong.

Earlier this month, Terry visited Inova Health Systems in Fairfax, where he applauded Inova’s requirement that all employees be vaccinated and called on all health systems in the Commonwealth to institute the same requirement. He then urged all Virginia school divisions to require staff and personnel to be fully vaccinated in order to keep schools open and protect Virginia’s over one million K-12 students – many of whom are still ineligible for vaccination. On August 9, Terry for Virginia announced it would require campaign staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Recent national polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly support vaccine mandates.

“Today, I am calling on every Virginia employer to require all eligible employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. I have long said that the best way to defeat this deadly virus, keep our students in school and keep Virginia’s economy strong is by getting every eligible Virginian vaccinated as quickly as possible. Today’s announcement puts us one important step closer to reaching that goal,” said Terry McAuliffe. “Together, we can beat this virus once and for all, keep our fellow Virginians safe, and keep our Commonwealth’s economy running strong.”

Later today, Terry will meet with students, educators and small business owners in Newport News and Hampton to discuss the importance of requiring vaccinations to keep Virginia’s schools open and economy running. As Virginia’s next governor, Terry will work to rebuild a stronger post-COVID economy that lifts up all Virginians, and he will fight to make sure all Virginians have quality, affordable health care. Terry has released detailed plans to create good-paying jobs, accelerate Virginia’s path to a $15 minimum wage, provide workers with paid sick, family and medical leave, and make health care more affordable. Getting all eligible Virginians vaccinated as quickly as possible is a critical piece of this effort.

Terry has released 18 detailed plans to strengthen Virginia’s education system and dramatically increase teacher pay, help secure Virginia’s economic recovery from COVID-19, reform our criminal justice system, ensure Virginians have access to regular nutritious meals, address the broken, predatory system of prescription drug pricing, confront the gun violence epidemic, make Virginia the best state in the nation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Care (STEM-H) and computer science education, tackle the housing crisis in the Commonwealth and invest in Virginia’s workforce in the post-COVID economy, ensure Virginians have access to high-quality, affordable health care, tackle climate change and secure Virginia’s clean energy future by 2035, lift up Black Virginians as the Commonwealth rebuilds from the COVID-19 pandemic, further advance LGBTQ+ rights, create a flourishing rural economy, support entrepreneurial ecosystems and tackle rising costs and meet the health care needs, make higher education more affordable and boost Virginia’s agriculture and forestry industries.