Vaccination or mask: Biden puts pressure on federal employees

US President Biden is taking action against vaccination fatigue: Federal employees have to prove a full vaccination or wear a permanent mask and have themselves tested. There should be a gift of money for newly vaccinated people.

In view of a new wave of corona and a faltering vaccination rate, the US government is pushing several million employees with new rules to vaccinate. Employees who cannot provide proof of vaccination will in future always have to wear a mask and be tested for possible infection once or twice a week, as US President Joe Biden said.

The regulation for the more than two million civilian employees of the government therefore also applies to employees of contractual partners who work in government institutions. Unvaccinated employees are also said to be subject to severe restrictions with regard to business travel.

With the strict rules, the White House apparently wants to make vaccinations the only convenient solution – but without explicitly relying on a politically controversial vaccination requirement. Biden emphasized, however, that the government supports companies that want to impose compulsory vaccinations on their employees. “We all want our lives to get back to normal, and fully vaccinated workplaces will get that back quickly.” On Wednesday, for example, Google and Facebook announced compulsory vaccination.

Compulsory vaccination for soldiers

Biden now also instructed the Ministry of Defense to check when the armed forces could impose a compulsory corona vaccination. The Pentagon immediately stated that the same strict rules would apply to all employees and soldiers as to federal employees. Minister Lloyd Austin will also initiate consultations on when and how vaccination can be made compulsory, it said. The ministry employs around three million people, including around two million soldiers.

Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated quickly. “Vaccinations are the very best defense to avoid getting seriously ill with Covid-19.” Vaccination is the only way to defeat the pandemic. The delta variant of the coronavirus is “highly contagious” and leads to many diseases among unvaccinated people.

Biden: “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated”

It is now a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” in the USA, stressed Biden. Around 99 percent of all corona deaths were not vaccinated. “This is an American tragedy. People who don’t have to die die and will die,” said Biden. Because of the delta variant, the number of new infections per day rose again to around 65,000 on average. A month ago the average was around 13,000. More than 300 people die every day after an infection.

$ 100 for the unvaccinated

In order to increase the vaccination rate in the population, he is also calling on states and municipalities to pay a reward of 100 US dollars (85 euros) to each newly vaccinated person.