Paid time off for COVID vaccinations encouraged under Biden tax credit. What to know

President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce tax credits for some businesses that give workers paid time off to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The credits are part of an effort to get more people vaccinated against the coronavirus as Biden is expected to announce the United States will meet his goal of vaccinating 200 million people within his first 100 days in office this week — twice as many as his original goal of 100 million.

“As part of that effort, President Biden is calling on every employer in America to offer full pay to their employees for any time off needed to get vaccinated and for any time it takes to recover from the after-effects of vaccination,” the White House says.

The paid leave tax credit will apply to employers with fewer than 500 employees, the White House says.

They’re designed to offset the costs for these businesses to “provide full pay” for employees who need to take time off for vaccination appointments or to recover from side effects.

The tax credit will be funded by the American Rescue Plan — the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package Biden signed into law in March — and offsets costs for up to 80 hours of paid sick leave and up to $511 per day per employee.

Biden is also encouraging all businesses to “use their unique resources” to provide employees with information on how and why to get vaccinated and to incentivize all Americans to get the shots.

“These commitments could include discounts for vaccinated individuals, product giveaways or brand rewards, messaging in-store, point-of purchase promotions, direct outreach to customers, or Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about the importance of vaccinations,” the White House says.

Vaccination progress so far

Roughly 87.6 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

All adults in the U.S. are now eligible for to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine, which experts say is safe and effective.

Coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes have dropped by 91% since late December when residents were prioritized to receive the first batches of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a late-March report from The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

Additionally, the CDC says people who are fully vaccinated can safely gather indoors with other fully vaccinated individuals without masks or physical distancing.

The risk of infection in such scenarios is low, the agency says. But including individuals who have not completed their vaccinations — or those who have not been vaccinated at all — in indoor gatherings can increase the chances that someone will get infected.

The vaccines do not fully prevent coronavirus infection. But “breakthrough infections” — or infections among those who are fully vaccinated — are rare.

As of April 14, about 5,800 vaccinated people out of the nearly 77 million who had been fully vaccinated in the U.S. at the time had tested positive for the coronavirus, the CDC told CNN. Some of these people became “seriously ill,” as396 people required hospitalization and 74 died.

The numbers are the latest evidence of how effective the COVID-19 vaccines are in real life outside of lab settings, which involved thousands of people, not millions. Still, the risk of serious illness and death remain low after COVID-19 vaccination. These breakthrough cases represent just 0.008% of the fully vaccinated population.

Biden originally set a goal of vaccinating 100 million people within his first 100 days in office, but said the U.S. surpassed that goal with in 58 days. He said he expects the U.S. to surpass 200 million by Thursday.

“As the Administration works to get even more people vaccinated, President Biden will call on employers across America to do everything they can to help their employees – and their communities – get vaccinated,” the White House says.