President Joe Biden on Thursday announced plans to require staff vaccinations at all health facilities that receive federal funding, as part of a sweeping new plan to rein in the coronavirus.
The move represents a dramatic expansion of the administration’s bid to boost vaccination rates among frontline health care workers, and comes as the administration readies a redoubling of efforts to rein in the virus.
Officials anticipate the broader mandate will affect more than 50,000 health facilities and 17 million workers. "In total, the new vaccination requirements in the president's plan cover about 100 million workers, that's two-thirds of all workers in the United States," a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.
The roughly 300,000 staff at Head Start programs will similarly be required to get vaccinated, as well as those who work in schools run by federal agencies. Biden touched on the administration’s plan for Covid-19 booster shots, after an initial rollout prompted broad confusion and accusations of political pressure on government health agencies.
The new plan comes just two months after Biden held a July Fourth celebration at the White House, where he declared that the nation was close to vanquishing the pandemic. Republicans in the meantime are waging pitched battles over mask-wearing in schools, with some like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowing to punish officials that try to make it a requirement.
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