Biden Issues Executive Orders Mandating COVID-19 Vaccines For Workers

President Joe Biden on Thursday signed two executive orders mandating COVID-19 vaccination for more than two-thirds of the American workforce.

With his two sweeping orders, healthcare workers, federal workers and contractors will have to get vaccinated against COVID-19. All the large companies with more than 100 employees must have their workforce vaccinated or mandate weekly testing. Biden also revealed that he had spoken with the Labor Department to ensure that his new order will be enforced for these employers.

“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We’ve made vaccinations free, safe and convenient. The vaccine has FDA approval. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” Biden said Thursday as he announced his two sweeping orders.

“Your refusal has cost all of us. So, please, do the right thing.”

The president also referred to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” 

“And it’s caused by the fact that despite America having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot,” Biden added.

During the speech, Biden also denounced Republican leaders, who are trying to ban COVID-19 regulations in their states – like Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), who has recently appealed a judge’s ruling blocking his order to school officials not to impose strict mask mandates in their districts in an effort to block the spread of the COVID-19.

“To make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against COVID-19,” Biden continued. “Instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up, they’re ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying from COVID in their communities. This is totally unacceptable.”

Article by Dongyoon Shin