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Attacking anti-vaccine movement, Biden mandates widespread COVID shots, tests

Published 09/09/2021, 05:03 AM
Updated 09/10/2021, 08:21 AM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks in honor of labor unions in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks in honor of labor unions in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Jeff Mason, Ahmed Aboulenein and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden took aim on Thursday at vaccine resistance in America, announcing 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, which Biden laid out in remarks from the White House, would apply to about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, those who work for businesses with more than 100 workers.

"We've been patient," Biden told the tens of millions of Americans who have declined to get coronavirus shots. "But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us."

Taken together, the policies and speech represented Biden's most aggressive steps yet to prod Americans resistant to getting shots as the fast-spreading Delta variant sparks a new wave of sickness and death.

The surge has posed increased risk not just to the country but to a president who ran on promises to get control of the pandemic. Biden's approval ratings have sagged since he said in July the United States was "closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus."

Biden's latest moves are expected to be the subject of political and legal challenges.

Despite a full-throttled campaign by the Biden administration urging Americans to get the free and widely available vaccines, just over 62% of eligible Americans https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-total-admin-rate-total are fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Thursday, Biden warned that "we're in a tough stretch and it could last for a while."

Infectious disease and health policy experts said the mandates are unlikely to significantly change infection rates quickly.

Still, they would help against potential future waves of the virus, reducing deaths and hospitalizations and alleviating the stress on the healthcare system, said Georgetown University's Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former chief scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"It's absolutely the right thing to do," he said. "Ideally everyone would have been vaccinated already."

'FEAR, CONTROL AND MANDATES'

In a televised speech running a bit under half an hour, the Democratic president accused "a distinct minority of elected officials" who have resisted mask and vaccine mandates on freedom-of-choice and economic grounds as "making people sick."

The White House COVID-19 recovery plan https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bidens-covid-19-strategy-thwarted-by-anti-vaxxers-delta-variant-2021-07-29 was based on the vast majority of eligible Americans being vaccinated this year. But the public health issue has become politicized, with a vocal minority refusing the shots and mask mandates.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order in July blocking mask mandates in schools.

Administration medical officials have said over 97% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated, and those people account for an even higher share of deaths.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the senior Republican on the House of Representatives committee that oversees health policy, said Biden "is using fear, control, and mandates."

The Republican National Committee said it intends to sue the Biden administration over the vaccine mandate.

Under Biden's plan, the administration will also require vaccinations for more than 17 million healthcare workers at hospitals and other institutions that participate in Medicare and Medicaid social programs for poor, disabled and older Americans.

Biden previously required that federal employees be vaccinated or get tested. Federal workers now have 75 days to get vaccinated, or face termination unless they fall into limited exemption categories.

Federal workers unions suggested on Thursday they would accept the vaccine mandate.

SUBSTANTIAL FINES

The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) plans to take enforcement actions against private companies that do not comply with the vaccine mandate, with substantial fines of nearly $14,000 per violation.

The administration is also calling on entertainment venues to require tests or shots and for states to adopt mandates for school employees. It is also multiplying the fines https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-doubling-fines-travelers-not-wearing-masks-2021-09-09 charged to people who fail to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses.

It plans as well to ramp up testing capacity for the virus.

Biden will use authority under the Defense Production Act to spur industry to accelerate production of the tests, and big retailers including Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc , Amazon.com Inc (O:AMZN) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) Co are expected to sell the tests at cost for the next three months to make them more affordable.

Critics have said the Biden administration has not done enough on testing during its seven months in office. Still, the new demand for tests could tax already strained suppliers.

Administration officials believe the full recovery of the U.S economy depends on blunting the spread of the virus, the key focus of the president since entering office in January.

The disease has killed more than 654,000 people in the United States, and deaths and hospitalizations have been rising sharply as the easily transmissible Delta variant of the virus spreads. https://tmsnrt.rs/3A1KHg3

The spread of the Delta variant has raised concerns as children head back to school, while also rattling investors, upending company return-to-office plans and tamping down https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-job-growth-slows-sharply-august-unemployment-rate-falls-52-2021-09-03 hiring.

The White House also plans to offer booster shots providing additional protection to those who are fully vaccinated. But supplies are limited and the World Health Organization has begged rich countries to pause booster programs until more people worldwide are inoculated.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks in honor of labor unions in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

But with Delta causing more symptomatic breakthrough infections among fully inoculated individuals, most vaccinated Americans want a booster, a recent Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found. Boosters could begin the week of Sept. 20.

"Get vaccinated," Biden urged in closing his speech.

Latest comments

wait for a huge unemployment numbers next time, now when workers are resigning in waves
The headline says it all. mr biden feels he needs to attack our citizens.
Biden exempted USPS from mandated vaccine because union did not want it, tells you Biden does not care about anyone health is only politics
I will never take anything the GOV tells me I have to take...period FULL STOP.  They can shove that poison up Biden's du-mb backside with a pitch fork.  It's not approved with FDA - read the fake approval.  It's still experimental.
 These vaccines were developed prior to Trump admin per GAIN OF FUNCTION research in CH-INK land agreement between Fauci and Wuhan lab.  Trump sucks - Biden Sucks - all politions are BS - what are you new.  SUM TING WONG with your brain.
 The vaccine and covid were developed in CHI_NK LAND prior to covid outbreak -  Hope Xi and all his fellow CCP los-sers go straight to *******quickly.
 mr burden is also trying to make it mandatory to be able to work.
Life is like an episode if the Twilight Zone anymore.
At most he can require federal employees to do stupid things.
 I got the vaccine. The federal gov should not make getting the vaccine a condition of employment.
Deflection, deflection. This isnt about covid or Joe caring about our citizens. Its pure politics to deflect from his failures.
You infected me and I will infect someone else is the American way. Santa will not wear any mask or take any vaccine.
There is no way this virus will be under control here. We have too many stooopid people still say this is like a cold...
the mask the cdc found to be 1.8% effective in stopping the spread over 100 days… do you still wear one i thought so… its easy to outwit dems too easy
 so now you are a believer of CDC?  good to know........
 Your silly attempt at logic failed.
why pushing so hard when it's not effective More then three months.
Covid-19 was designed by far left usa. Initially to keep Trump out of the Whitehouse for second term. And to push communist agenda on us citizens.
"Covid-19 was designed by far left usa."  -- so it didnt come from China???  tell us more....
"we can't lose in Vietnam"    "Obamacare will save individuals thousands on insurance"   "we'll only be in Afghanistan until we've got those 9/11 perps"    "The Federal Income tax will be capped at 1%"   "The intelligence agencies are not collecting date on individual Americans"  "the lockdown will be for only 2 weeks to flatten the curve"  "we only have 12 years to fix climate change"  "Biden is fine, he's OK"   "your boy may be a girl, really"   "Take the shot, you'll all be fine"
Oh I forgot one....."we will get every American who wants to leave out of Afghanistan"
and the latest, we droned isis *******last week, oops it was an afgan first aid worker and his family working for USA
That's it. China of the americas
When Did America become communist? No scientific proof at all that the vaccine improves chances in the 1.6% to 2.5% at risk
In Israel over 70% of population has been fully vaccinated yet country is experiencing surge in Delta cases.
by surge you must mean the weekly averga death rate being 20 fatalities and a hospital ICU utilization of 10%. yep great argument. Felipe hopefully you get the virus
Been to Israel recently hospitals are full and yes mostly vaccinated
No way biden came up with this himself. LOL
So let me get this straight? The biden administration wants to sue Texas for not allowing women to make a choice about what goes in and out their bodies, YET the Biden Administration want to force (Mandate) the american people to put a vaccine in there bodies?
“My body my choice”. But vaccines mandatory is fine. Democrat hypocrisy.
SO, there are at least 10 of us? I feel better
 Only when your body contains a third person, then you get to decide
TYRANNY!!! A nation under cruel and oppressive government.
Time to seceed, oppressive federal government again
By the way this will create huge restrictions for healthcare for millions. Im not the only healthcare employee willing to lose my career over this.
have fun being unemployment
he’ll be a combat medic
if i went into the military bud i would be much higher. I do anesthesia now as is as a crna. People have zero clue this means you get less operations, less healthcare, worse healthcare because increase patient ratios, which in turns causes burnout and more quitting.
Stay out of peoples frredom of choice. The original vaccine has an efficacy of 39% with delta. Research and stop trying to get fatter pockets joe
Darn at every vaccination point l thought sleepy Joe was going to station a transgender with raging covid so people like me could deliberately catch IT and in 2 weeks be over IT
lol, pull those strings puppet master.
LOL, he’s already made tings worse.
He has no plan. His plan is wait since Covid is here to stay; therefore, it will slowly fade in the public mind and people will forget about Covid just like they do to the flu.
"it will slowly fade in the public mind"  --  I remembered people used to say Covid is just something the liberal media used to scare people back in early 2020, then the same people backtracked and said Covid is exaggerated and there will be no talk of Covid once the Nov election is over, and then Trump claimed he ended Covid, yeah that was a good one.
 Trump said "it will be gone by Easter" in 2020 🤣
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