Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says vaccine requirements at businesses and universities are ‘a very reasonable thing to do’

• Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US Surgeon general, backs COVID-19 vaccine requirements at businesses and colleges.
• “I think that’s a very reasonable thing to do to create a safe environment,” he said on CNN.
• Murthy said that the rise of the Delta variant makes it imperative to focus on the safety of school children.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday said that COVID-19 vaccine requirements that have been crafted by businesses and colleges are “a very reasonable thing to do,” as the Food and Drug Administration is set to fully approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the coming days.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Murthy did not harbor reservations about the usage of such health mandates in the workplace and classroom.

“We already know that there are many businesses and universities that have moved toward vaccine requirements and I think that’s a very reasonable thing to do to create a safe environment,” he said.

Murthy also backed requirements for school employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“There’s one other thing I think we need to do that some states have been doing to create a safer school environment, and that’s requiring that employees in the school, including teachers and other staff, are vaccinated as well to create a safer environment for our kids,” he said.

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With the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant across the US, Murthy said that it was imperative to focus on keeping children safe.

“I think all of these are reasonable because when we’re faced with the most transmissible variant that we’ve seen to date, the Delta variant,” he said. “When we have our kids, essentially is the point of concern here in our schools and their health and well-being on the line, we’ve got to take every step we can.”

“I think that these measures, these requirements, we’re seeing are absolutely reasonable,” he said. “I think they will help.”

Murthy, who served as Surgeon General in the Obama administration and now under President Joe Biden, said that the impending FDA announcement regarding the full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will push more people to receive their shots and influence more businesses and places of employment to proceed with enforcing requirements.

Since the pandemic began in the US, nearly 37.7 million people have been infected with the virus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.