President Joe Biden is set to announce a COVID vaccine mandate for all federal workers and contractors, with no option for regular testing. Additionally, he will encourage private businesses to do the same as a part of the broader plan to address the COVID pandemic.
According to media reports, the action that will affect some 2.1 million workers goes further than the requirements he announced on July 29. Back then, the president said federal workers and on-site contractors would either need to prove they’d been vaccinated or wear masks and submit to frequent coronavirus testing.
The president stated: “Every government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. Anyone who does not test or is not vaccinated will be required to mask no matter where they are, test one or two times a week to see if they acquired COVID, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work.”
Now, Biden will be mandating COVID vaccines and appears to be extending the requirement to federal contractors who work for the government indirectly and don’t usually need to be physically present at the government facilities.
Back in July, Biden mentioned the federal contractors should be subject to the same rules as the federal employees, meaning getting vaxxed or regularly tested and submitting to the “safety protocols.” From now on, the testing will not be an option even for the contractors. Full details of the new order have not been released yet, such as if it would include exceptions for workers seeking religious or medical exemptions and what penalties there might be for noncompliance. The President is expected to announce the measures at 5 PM EST.
Many federal bodies are already requiring their employees to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment. Among them are: the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, the Indian Health Service, and the National Institute of Health. On Aug. 25, the Department of Defense made the Comirnaty vaccine – “previously known as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine” mandatory for all service members.
This exceedingly forceful approach to get needles in as many arms as possible will be encouraged elsewhere in the government and private businesses. Previewing the President’s announcement, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on MSNBC Thursday: “We can’t declare with a magic wand from the federal government that every person has to be vaccinated, school districts can do that, leaders and states can push their school districts to do that, that’s important, companies can do that and make those requirements for their employees.”
Psaki added that the vaccine mandates have been implemented in large companies, calling the mandate “a model.” The New American has previously reported that corporate America, including such giants as Apple, Google, Morgan Stanley, MGM, Broadway, Disney, and numerous banks and airlines, is eagerly embracing the mandatory COVID vaccination for its employees.
Overall, Biden’s plan to address the COVID pandemic will reportedly include such “pillars” as vaccinating the unvaccinated:
- Further protecting the vaccinated through booster shots
- Keeping schools open
- Increasing testing
- Requiring masks
- Protecting the economic recovery
- Improving care for those sick with COVID
According to Politico, Biden is expected to urge schools to implement regular testing for all students, teachers, and staff. Per the report, the administration has allocated $10 billion for COVID testing regimes in schools, but only a few used the funds due to the many schools remaining closed at the beginning of the year. Now, as students return to classrooms — and in the light of the highly contagious Delta variant — Biden will likely pressure schools to “refocus their efforts on regular testing.”
It is also anticipated that Biden will address the coronavirus booster plan for fully vaccinated people. In mid-August, the CDC started recommending immunocompromised people get their third dose of the vaccine. While the CDC does not recommend additional doses or boosters for any other population at this time, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), jointly with the CDC and FDA, announced a plan to begin offering boosters to the general population as early as the week of Sept. 20 and starting eight months after an individual’s second dose.
This seemingly rushed plan of adding minimally studied boosters to the sparsely studied vaccines was met with opposition by some of the senior vaccine regulators at the FDA and raised concerns among many experts.
Finally, the president will call for a global summit on COVID-19 to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly later this month in a bid to coordinate vaccination efforts more effectively around the world. The summit topics will reportedly include coordination among nations to collectively tackle the health crisis and address inequities, including the slow rate of vaccinations in the developing world.
The White House has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to ending the pandemic around the globe and vowed to make the U.S. an “arsenal of vaccines” for all. As of Aug. 3, the U.S. has donated some 110 million vaccines and is reportedly expanding production to donate even more. Still, the World Health Organization recently blasted the “wealthy countries’” plan to offer their citizens booster shots while the developing world “should be satisfied with leftovers.”
All in all, the administration’s approach in moving the needle is evidently getting more forceful. For those who refuse to be injected to keep a job, there’s a way to defend one’s bodily autonomy, as explained in detail by The New American.
