President Joe Biden today announced all civilian federal workers and contractors need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, or face regular testing, mandatory mask wearing, and limits on travel. The president also announced a new incentive program that calls on states and territories to give the newly vaccinated $100 when they get the shot.
"It's time to impose requirements, and incentives," said Biden, who said 90 million Americans are eligible for vaccination but have not yet gotten the vaccines.
"This is an American blessing, we cannot waste it," Biden said, emphasizing that the country has more than enough vaccines for all Americans, unlike many other countries.
"The vaccines are highly effective, we have enough for everyone to get vaccinated, we've administered 325 million doses in past 6 months," said Biden. "Vaccines are not political. This is about life and death."
Biden also called for American parents to vaccinate students 12 and up before school starts, and encouraged school districts to offer one last pop-up clinic in the coming weeks. He also said he would follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations concerning mask use indoors in areas of high transmission.
The president's announcements come as the administration grapples with how to boost COVID-19 vaccinations in the face of rising cases and hospitalizations due the more transmissible Delta (B1617.2) variant.
Throughout his address to the nation, Biden emphasized that while breakthrough infections can happen among the vaccinated, 99% of those hospitalized or who die from COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
Mask and vaccine mandates continue
Across the country, mandating vaccine use among public workers and mask use indoors — even among vaccinated Americans — has become the latest political football for mayors and governors.
The mayors of Florida's Miami-Dade and Orange counties have announced mask and vaccine mandates, in defiance of a state law that gives Gov. Ron DeSantis the power to invalidate local emergency measures put in place during the pandemic, the Associated Press reports.
And 12 of the country's 20 biggest school districts have announced they will require mask use next year, while other school districts have been stymied and prevented from mask requirements by local laws. Those eight include six in Florida and two in Texas.
Both Florida and Texas are experiencing some of the highest daily case counts in the country, and Texas reported more than 10,000 daily new virus cases for the first time in almost 6 months, Bloomberg reports.
The United States reported 68,771 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, and 387 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker. The 7-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases is 66,924, according to the New York Times tracker.
According to Johns Hopkins University, 34,706,025 Americans have been confirmed to have COVID-19, including 611,959 fatally.
Republicans voice more pro-vaccine messages
The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows 395,974,515 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered in the US, and 343,361,524 have been administered, with 49.3% of Americans fully vaccinated (57.1% have at least one dose).
Top Senate Republicans are stepping up pro-vaccine outreach to help boost vaccination efforts in their home states, according to Politico. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has filmed television ads debunking anti-vaccine misinformation.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski also filmed a public service announcement saying vaccination is the best way to stop wearing masks.
But a study from the Public Religion Research Institute shows that evangelical Christians, who largely vote Republican, are more resistant to getting the COVID-19 vaccine than other major religious groups, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Twenty-four percent of evangelical Christians said in June that they wouldn't be vaccinated. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham has publicly stated the need for vaccination, and has encouraged other church leaders to do so.
