The grocery chain Aldi said on Tuesday that its hourly workers will pay two hours for each dose they receive, giving workers up to four hours of paid time. Aldi also said it would “cover costs associated with administering vaccines” to employees who want to be vaccinated.
Aldi ensures that all hourly workers who want to receive the vaccine can do so without losing their wages or taking time away from their jobs, the company said in a news release.
Aldi joins Dollar General, Trader Joe’s and Instacart as major US companies that have made similar moves.
Dollar General (DG) said last week that he would give his workers a one-time payment equal to four hours’ pay after receiving a full vaccination. Merchant Joe’s is giving workers “an extra 2 hours of regular pay per dose to take the time to be vaccinated,” Kenya Friend-Daniel, a spokesman for the company, said in an email.
Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery platform, also said last week that it would provide financial assistance to its in-store workers and independent contractors.
As of Feb. 1, Instacart will have a $ 25 “vaccine support allowance” available for in-store employees and its independent vaccinated contractors. To be eligible, its independent buyers must have purchased and delivered at least five groups for the company over the past 30 days.
The policies of the companies come because the effects of vaccines in the United States are slowly starting to pick up. According to the latest CDC data, so far more than 31 million doses of vaccine have been distributed, and more than 10 million people have received their first dose. Federal officials said 20 million people would receive first doses by the end of December.
Most states still only vaccinate health workers and residents and staff in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, Kaiser said last week. Essential workers, such as workers from retailers and grocery stores, will be vaccinated at later stages of implementation, but their consent to receive the vaccine varies by country.
Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Instacart and Dollar General all stop forcing vaccinations for their employees.
Dr Peter Hotez, a vaccination expert at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said mandates do not make sense at the moment due to supply constraints. They would also be ‘too challenging’ at this stage and cause a setback among anti-vaccine groups.
“At the moment, the encouragement of employees to be vaccinated and the leave policy created for that purpose,” he said.
Seventy-two percent of current and recent CEOs of large companies have indicated openness to vaccine mandates, according to a poll conducted at a virtual summit by the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute last month. The broad question did not specify whether the mandate would apply to all employees or only persons who had to work close to customers and colleagues.
—CNN Business’ Matt Egan and Sara O’Brien contributed to this article.
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