US federal workers required to show proof of COVID vaccination: Biden administration

The United States on Thursday made it mandatory for millions of federal workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, reports Associated Press. The Biden administration announced that federal workers would be required to present verification of vaccination or else be subject to weekly testing, mandatory masking, and several other new rules.

The federal agency is the largest employer in the United States. The new rules are aimed at boosting the vaccination rates across the country, which have been dropping for the past couple of months.

US President Joe Biden has also asked the Defence Department to look at ways of making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for its employees.

Also read: Why CDC recommends fully vaccinated citizens to wear masks indoors

The administration has also urged private businesses to follow suit. The idea is to impose stringent restrictions and rules on those who are unvaccinated. Some of the nation’s biggest corporations have already moved to require vaccinations for their workers. Earlier this week, tech giants Google and Facebook announced that their employees would have to present proof of full COVID vaccination before returning to work.

The move by the White House comes amid a surge of new coronavirus cases across the globe, which is majorly due to a new Delta variant. The Delta variant is the most infectious strain of coronavirus yet.

Till now, only 60% of Americans have been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. While taking over the presidency in January, Biden had set a July 4 target to get 70% of adult Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But the country is still not quite there.

The number of people getting vaccianted has been steadily dropping since April. The announcement to make vaccination mandatory for federal employees is just the latest step by the Biden administration to encourage people to get the COVID vaccine jab. Earlier this month, the White House also roped in pop star Olivia Rodrigo to encourage young people to get vaccinated.