U.S. Pres Biden to meet executives on COVID-19 mandate

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Delta variant and his administration's efforts to increase vaccinations, from the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with business leaders and CEOs, as he pushes companies to require workers to be vaccinated amid a surge in COVID-19 infections among those not yet inoculated.

Biden told reporters as he returned to the White House on Tuesday that he had seen "positive support for mandates, by and large," although he conceded that there would always be a small percentage of people who would refuse to get a shot.

Biden said he would meet with major employers on Wednesday at the White House to discuss the mandate issue.

Participants in the meeting include Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-meet-with-top-executives-on-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-11631696400?mod=latest_headlines.

The president last week announced policies requiring most federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations and pushing large employers to have their workers inoculated or tested weekly.

The new measures would apply to about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, those who work for businesses with more than 100 workers.

The fast-spreading Delta variant has sparked a new wave of sickness and death, posing increased risk not just to the country but to a president who ran on promises to get control of the pandemic.

Some small employers have voiced frustration with the mandate. Large employers like U.S. automakers General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co and rare earths producer MP Materials Corp said they encourage employees to get the vaccine, but they were quiet about Biden's executive order.