US President Announced New Vaccine Mandates for Federal Workers
Biden imposed severe new COVID-19-related vaccine rules on federal employees, health care staff, and large employers to combat the latest wave of virus
On Thursday, the President of the United States Joe Biden imposed severe new vaccine rules on federal employees, health care staff, and large employers in a sweeping effort to contain the latest wave of coronavirus. The recent presidential requirements could apply to as many as a hundred million American citizens – close to two-thirds of the U.S. workforce – and amount to the strongest push of Biden still to require vaccines for much of the nation.
Tonight, I am announcing a new plan to combat COVID-19, building on our whole-of-government approach. The plan will get more people vaccinated, decrease hospitalizations and deaths, and keep our schools and our economy open. https://t.co/RWtunnzh9o
The U.S. president said that the government is patient, the patience is wearing thin, and the refusal from the public has cost all of the whole country. Biden’s tone became hard toward those Americans who still refuse to receive a vaccination dose despite sufficient evidence of their protection and safety and full FDA approval of one – the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. The United States Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine last month.
Biden said vaccinated nationals were mounting upset with the eighty million people who refused to take the shots and are becoming the reason for the spread of the virus. Furthermore, he acknowledged the recent steps wouldn’t provide an instant fix. In an early speech from the White House, the president said that while the U.S. is much better than it was in the last days of the Trump administration when he took office.
Biden Signed Executive Order Requiring all Federal Employees to Receive Shots
At the center of the president’s new plan is directing the U.S. Labor Department to require all businesses with hundred or employees to ensure their personnel are either receive vaccination doses or tested once a week, an extensive step Biden took after consultation with the lawyers and administration health officials. Companies could face fines of thousands of dollars per employee if they don’t obey.
A senior administration official told CNN that United States Postal Service employees would fall under that rule, and workforces will need to receive shots or face mandatory weekly testing. A quasi-independent agency, the Postal Service, workers over six hundred and forty thousand people. The U.S. president also signed an executive order requiring all federal employees to receive vaccine shots against coronavirus, with no choice of regularly testing to opt-out.
US President Biden Announced Vaccine Mandates for Federal Workers Source: Web
Biden signed an additional order directing the same standard applied to workers of contractors who do business with the national government. He also said three hundred thousand educators in federal Head Start programs must receive shots and called on governors of all the states to require vaccination for staff and schoolteachers.
17 million Health Care Workers at Facilities Would Require Receiving Funds from Medicaid and Medicare
The president also announced he would require the seventeen million health care workers at facilities receiving funds from Medicaid and Medicare to receive full vaccination, expanding the mandate to hospitals, dialysis centers, and home care facilities across the country. He said that his government has the tools to fight COVID-19 if the nation comes together to use those tools.
We have the tools to combat COVID-19. If we can come together as a country and use them, we can reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans, decrease hospitalizations and deaths, and allow our children to go to school safely. pic.twitter.com/cBon9sEn9Z
Government officials acknowledged the requirement for large employers could be challenged in court. However, they said they hoped to offer protection of federal rules to businesses who want coronavirus required for employees. Moreover, the new rules come as the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread through communities all over the country, causing a rise in hospitalizations and death, specifically in areas where vaccination rates remain low.
