U.S. announces COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory for healthcare workers

The US Department of Health will require that employees who care for or provide services to patients must be vaccinated against the coronavirusthe authorities announced Thursday.

The order of the Minister of Health, Xavier Becerra, reaches more than 25,000 medical workers, contractors, scientists, volunteers and employees in training with the federal health services. It is applicable to all employees who regularly interact with patients or whose work could bring employees into contact with patients.

“Our number one goal is the health and safety of the American public, including our federal workforce, ”Becerra said.

“Demand that our workforce be vaccinated protect our federal workers, the patients and the people they serve “he added, in a statement.

Indian Health Service staff (IHS), which deals with Native American peoples, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be affected by the move, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Since Pentagon until Department of Military Veterans Affairs and the state of california, and of Google up to United Airlines, government agencies and large companies impose compulsory vaccination of their employees, at a time when the The aggressive Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads across the country, raising fears that the pandemic will once again slow down the economic recovery.

Indeed, at the beginning of the week, The Pentagon has said it will seek approval from President Joe Biden to demand that 1.3 million military personnel be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Department of Veterans Affairs also announced a similar measure last month.

While, government examines what authority companies have to tax vaccines while considering what other steps can be taken to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health has more than 80,000 employees. Those not covered by the Becerra ordinance would fall under a recent policy change by the president Joe Biden is forcing federal workers and contractors to prove their vaccine status, ordering regular COVID-19 testing and some restrictions on the unvaccinated, although it does not directly control vaccinations.

Although the Vaccinations are almost universal among doctors, the same is not true for other people who work in the health field.

The delta variant began to spread initially in areas with low vaccination rates, where, as of July 14, 28% of its neighbors resided in places with high levels of infection, compared to 13% of people in communities with high vaccination rates.

However, Two-thirds of Americans now living in areas with high COVID-19 vaccination rates are in hot spots with high numbers of infections, according to an analysis published this Thursday by the newspaper The Washington Post.

Nevertheless, the American newspaper pointed out, from the data it handles, that it is much safer to get the vaccine if you live in an area where there are many cases of the disease than not to be

In fact, states with high vaccination rates have one-third of new cases per capita compared to states with low vaccination rates.

(With information from AP, Reuters and EFE)

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