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Washington – President Biden plans to sign two executive orders requiring all federal executive employees and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19, with no possibility of weekly testing for the unvaccinated, three people familiar with the disease told CBS News. plan.
In July, Mr. Biden noted the federal workforce should certify vaccination or undergo regular testing and social distancing in the workplace. Soon, vaccination will no longer be optional. CNN was the first to report the new federal vaccination requirement.
The new mandate is part of a six-pronged strategy to tackle COVID-19[female[feminine Delta variant and step up immunizations as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise. Mr Biden plans to present the plan in remarks at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday.
A White House official said the six pillars Mr Biden will discuss are:
- Vaccinate the unvaccinated
- Strengthen the protection of the vaccinated
- Keeping schools safe
- Increase testing and require masking
- Protect our economic recovery
- Improving care for people with COVID-19
The American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO, the largest federal union of employees, said it was promoting vaccines, but this new requirement would have to be negotiated with their bargaining units.
“Since President Biden made his first major announcement regarding changing COVID-19 protocols for the federal workforce in response to the burgeoning Delta variant, We said that changes like this should be negotiated with our bargaining units where appropriate, ”said Union National President Everett Kelley. “Put simply, workers deserve a voice in their working conditions. None of these positions have changed. We plan to negotiate this change prior to implementation, and urge anyone who is able to get vaccinated as soon as they can. “
With a new push to demand vaccines and make testing more available, Mr Biden will also announce measures to ensure children are properly protected in classrooms.
CBS News has learned that the president will raise the issue of COVID vaccination effort globally with other world leaders when they meet at the United Nations General Assembly later this month. A senior administration official told CBS News that while they “are still planning the president’s agenda around the U.N. General Assembly high-level week, it’s safe to assume we’re actively looking at COVID. -19 and options focused on public health “.
The official refrained from calling it a summit, but added that they “anticipate that there will be an opportunity for the president to engage with his counterparts on this issue during UNGA week.” . One topic that should be discussed between Biden and his counterparts, according to a second administration official, will be advancing and improving international research and development cooperation on the COVID-19 front.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Wednesday’s press conference that the new mitigation measures Mr Biden announced on Thursday would depend on “if you are vaccinated you are not.”
“It is going to outline the next phase of the fight against the virus and what it looks like, including measures to work with the public and private sectors, building on the measures that we have already announced, the measures that we have taken over the past few months: demanding more vaccinations, stepping up important testing measures and more; making school safer for children at a time when the American people are listening, “Psaki said. “Again, these will be six steps that we will work to implement over the coming months.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75.2% of American adults have at least one injection of the COVID-19 vaccine. But community transmission in most of the country remains high, as the Delta variant accounts for almost all of the country’s cases.
Nearly 650,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year.
As the World Health Organization calls for a moratorium on booster injections while poorer countries wait for their first doses, Psaki said on Wednesday it was a “false choice” to choose between offering injections of booster and provide injections to other countries. The United States, which gives more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine than any other country, will continue to provide the world with vaccines, she said.
Weijia Jiang and Fin Gomez contributed to this report.
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