Ian Patrick, FISM News
The federal government is continuing their effort to boost vaccinations nationwide while curbing the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant. During a press conference on Thursday, President Joe Biden urged local governments to incentivize vaccinations with payments to individuals, while also implementing new rules for federal workers.
Biden said federal workers and contractors will need to show proof of vaccination or be subject to weekly or twice-weekly COVID-19 tests and restrictions on official travel. These limitations are similar to ones in other states such as California and New York, as well as some private businesses like Google and Facebook.
The federal government is the largest employer in the U.S. with around 2.18 million civilian employees and 570,000 other U.S. Postal Service workers. However, postal workers are not affected by the new rules.
The CDC reports that over 163 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated out of the roughly 330 million living in the U.S. Requiring vaccinations or proof of negative testing is a sharp reversal from the government’s previous caution to applying what’s known as a “vaccine passport:” essentially providing documentation that you are vaccinated so that you may participate in everyday activities.
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