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More vaccine mandates in place as Biden considers requirement for federal workers

Jul 27, 2021

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President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is considering requiring all federal workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The statement came in response to a reporter question after Biden spoke at the office of the Director of National Intelligence. The video above shows the back and forth between President Biden and reporters.

“We have a pandemic because the unvaccinated, there’s enormous confusion. And the more we learn, the more we learn about this virus, the delta variation, the more we have to be worried, concerned,” President Biden said. “One thing we know for sure, if those other 100 million people got vaccinated, we’d be in a very different world. So get vaccinated. If you haven’t you are not nearly as smart as I said you were.”

The video also shows California Gov. Gavin Newsom talking Tuesday about his state’s new policy requiring state employees and health care workers to get vaccinated or get tested regularly.

“We’re not stopping just with state employees,” Gov. Newsom said. “Today we are also announcing partnerships that include those like Kaiser, private sector now stepping up, organizations representing physicians, dentists, dialysis clinics stepping up, private sector clinics are committing to the same.”

The new rule will take effect next month. There are 246,000 state employees in the state, according to Newsom. There at least 2 million health care workers in the state’s public and private sectors, according to the California controller’s office.

About 62 percent of all eligible Californians are fully vaccinated. However, vaccination rates have stalled, and infections and hospitalizations are rising. The delta variant now makes up an estimated 80 percent of cases in California.

“Our projections are sobering,” Newsom said. “Our projections are over the course of the next number of weeks will show a significant increase in hospitalizations if we continue down this path.”

California’s new policy was originally announced Monday, the same day New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a similar policy for city workers and the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require its healthcare workers receive the vaccine.

96 percent of United States doctors are vaccinated, according to a study from the American Medical Association. However, that’s not the case at nursing homes. Recent Medicare numbers show 60 percent of long-term care facility staff and 70 percent of long-term care residents are vaccinated.

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Reporter: “Will you require all federal employees to get vaccinated?”

Joe Biden, U.S. President: “That that’s under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”

Reporter: “Are you concerned that the CDC guidelines put some confusion?”

Joe Biden, U.S. President: “We have a pandemic because the unvaccinated, there’s enormous confusion. And the more we learn, the more we learn about this virus, the delta variation, the more we have to be worried, concerned. And then only one thing we know for sure, if those other 100 million people got vaccinated, we’d be in a very different world. So get vaccinated. If you haven’t you are not nearly as smart as I said you were.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, (D) California: “But as it relates to leading by example, 246,000 Californians are state employees. 246,000 Californians should be vaccinated and if they’re not vaccinated and cannot verify that they’ve been vaccinated, we are requiring that they get tested. California’s committed to vaccination, verification and/or testing on a weekly basis. We’re not stopping just with state employees, today we are also announcing partnerships that include those like Kaiser, private sector now stepping up, organizations representing physicians, dentists, dialysis clinics stepping up, private sector clinics are committing to the same. And we hope this example of public and private leadership as it relates to vaccine verification vaccine mandates, and/or mandated testing one to two times a week with also commensurate PPP, or PPE obligations as it relates to protective gear and N95 respirator masks as an example, will lead to others to replicate this example in the private sector. Our projections are sobering. Our projections are over the course of the next number of weeks will show a significant increase in hospitalizations if we continue down this path. But we are exhausted, respectfully, exhausted by the ideological prism that too many Americans are living under. We’re exhausted by the Ron Johnsons and Tucker Carlsons, we’re exhausted by the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, we’re exhausted by the right-wing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety. We’re exhausted by the politicalization of this pandemic and that includes mask wearing that has been equated to the Holocaust. It’s disgraceful, it’s unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and it needs to be called out. The announcement here today is broad, it’s significant, believe we may be the first state at scale to not only require it for all state employees but to engage in public-private partnership with our healthcare facilities in the state.”