Biden To Require All Federal Employees To Get Vaccinated Or Face Weekly Testing

The vaccination mandate comes as the delta variant of COVID-19 continues surging.

President Joe Biden will announce Thursday that all federal employees and contractors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and abide by other safety restrictions, the White House confirmed, reflecting the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus that threatens to prolong the pandemic. The president said earlier this week that a vaccine mandate for government workers was under consideration following months of messaging from the nation’s leading public health officials that vaccines are the key to ending a pandemic that has upended life for more than a year and a half. “Today, the President will announce that to help protect workers and their communities, every federal government employee and onsite contractor will be asked to attest to their vaccination status,” the White House announced.