The Aldi food chain said on Tuesday that it would give its workers two hours of pay per hour for each dose of vaccine they receive, giving workers up to four hours in total free time. Aldi also said he would “cover the costs associated with administering the vaccine” for employees who want to get vaccinated.
Aldi “ensures that all hourly workers who want to receive the vaccine can do so without worrying about losing wages or eliminating time off work,” the company said in a press release.
Aldi joins Dollar General, Trader Joe’s and Instacart as large US companies that have made similar moves.
General dollar (DG) said last week that it would give its workers a one-time payment equivalent to four hours’ pay after receiving the full vaccination. Trader Joe’s will offer workers “another 2 hours of regular dose payment to take the time to get vaccinated,” Kenya Friend-Daniel, a company spokesman, said in an email.
Instacart, the on-demand food delivery platform, also said last week that it will provide financial assistance to store workers and independent contractors.
Starting February 1, Instacart will have a $ 25 “vaccine support scholarship” available to store employees and its independent contractors who have been vaccinated. To be eligible, independent buyers must have purchased and delivered at least five lots to the company in the last 30 days.
Company policies are emerging as vaccine launches begin slowly in the United States. Up to 31 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed so far, according to the latest CDC data, and more than 10 million people have received their first dose. Federal officials said 20 million people would receive their first doses by the end of December.
Most states still vaccinate only health care workers and residents and staff in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, Kaiser said last week. Essential workers, such as retail and grocery store workers, will be vaccinated in the later stages of launch, but their eligibility to receive the vaccine varies by state.
Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Instacart and Dollar General are stopping the lack of a vaccination mandate for their employees.
Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the mandates don’t make sense right now because of supply constraints. It would also be “too provocative at the moment” and would cause side effects among anti-vaccine groups.
“Right now, encouraging employees to get vaccinated and creating this holiday policy for that purpose is a great idea,” he said, adding that mandates could be reviewed once more people have been vaccinated and more doses are available. .
Seventy-two percent of current and recent CEOs of large companies have signaled openness to immunization mandates, according to a poll conducted last month at a virtual summit by the Yale CEO’s Institute. The broad question did not specify whether the mandate would apply to all employees or only to those who needed to work in the immediate vicinity of clients and colleagues.
—Cnn Business Matt Egan and Sara O’Brien contributed to this article.
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