Freeport, N.Y.: Daniel Merlos, 15, of Freeport, New York, is administered a Covid-19 vaccine at Freeport High School where Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital provided COVID-19 vaccinations to all eligible students, staff and community residents, on July 15, 2021.
Steve Pfost | Newsday | Getty Images
President Joe Biden’s latest vaccination push is the most aggressive effort yet by his administration to get the raging coronavirus pandemic under control.
Critics see the move by the president as a reversal of his previous promise to avoid vaccine mandates. Federal health officials, however, believe it is the next step in the fight against the highly contagious delta variant, which is killing more than 1,500 Americans every day, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, and filling hospitals in unvaccinated pockets of the country to the brim.
“We’re going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers,” Biden said Thursday in announcing the plan. “We’re going to reduce the spread of Covid-19 by increasing the share of the workforce that is vaccinated in businesses all across America.”
The multipronged approach affects hundreds of public and private companies and tens of millions of American workers. It mandates vaccines and eliminates testing options for federal government employees, including those in the health-care sector, and calls for stiff penalties for those who don’t comply.
Here’s what you need to know about Biden’s latest bid to get more Americans vaccinated.
Where vaccination is mandatory, with no testing option
Federal employees and contractors that work with the government face renewed vaccine mandates and will no longer have the option of regular Covid testing.
“If you want to work with the federal government and do business with us, get vaccinated,” Biden said. “If you want to do business with the federal government, vaccinate your workforce.”
Health-care workers also face strict mandates. The president has ordered all health-care facilities that receive federal Medicaid or Medicare funding to mandate vaccines for their workforces with no testing option.
Previously, the Biden administration mandated vaccines only for employees at U.S. nursing homes receiving federal funding. Some states, including New York and Maine, had already mandated vaccines for health-care workers.
The new rules will affect more than 17 million health workers at more than 50,000 hospitals and health-care facilities across the U.S.
“If you’re seeking care at a health-care facility, you should be able to know that the people treating you are vaccinated,” Biden said. “Simple, straightforward, period.”
The president also ordered all staff at Head Start programs run by the federal government to be vaccinated. The order extends to schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Defense, affecting about 300,000 people in total, according to Chalkbeat, a news organization that covers education.
Where vaccination or weekly testing is…
Read More: What you need to know about President Joe Biden’s new Covid vaccine