Coronavirus

Biden Says Vaccine Mandate for All Federal Employees Is Under Consideration Following VA Order

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
  • President Joe Biden said his administration is weighing whether to require federal employees to be vaccinated for the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads.
  • "That's under consideration right now," Biden said.
  • The Biden administration had previously discouraged federal agencies from requiring vaccination for on-site work.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday his administration is weighing whether to require federal employees to be vaccinated for the coronavirus as the highly contagious delta variant spreads throughout the U.S.

"That's under consideration right now," Biden told reporters when asked if he would impose a vaccine mandate for all government workers.

The president's remarks came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its guidance on wearing masks indoors.

The Biden administration had previously discouraged federal agencies from requiring vaccination for on-site work.

But on Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it would order its health-care workers to get inoculated, making it the first federal agency to impose such a mandate.

Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough described the new measure as "the best way to keep Veterans safe."

The White House has touted its campaign to vaccinate the nation out of the coronavirus pandemic. But the administration missed its goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one vaccine dose by July 4, and vaccination rates have slowed significantly from prior months.

With the highly contagious delta variant on the rise worldwide, health officials are growing concerned about so-called breakthrough infections among people who are fully vaccinated.

Officials have noted, however, that the symptoms felt from those infections tend be milder, and the vast majority of people hospitalized or killed by Covid are unvaccinated.

But with another surge in cases expected in the fall, the CDC is now recommending that fully vaccinated people and kids begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high Covid transmission rates, as well as in schools.

After noting that cases and deaths are down "dramatically," Biden in a statement later Tuesday urged Americans to follow the CDC's new guidance, calling the change "another step on our journey to defeating this virus."

"I hope all Americans who live in the areas covered by the CDC guidance will follow it; I certainly will when I travel to these areas," Biden's statement said.

Boosting vaccinations and wearing masks when necessary "will enable us to avoid the kind of lockdowns, shutdowns, school closures, and disruptions we faced in 2020," it said.

"We are not going back to that," the president's statement said.

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