Federal workers facing tough new vaccination rules

President Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new pandemic requirements for millions of federal workers as he denounced an “American tragedy” of risingyetpreventable deaths among unvaccinated U.S. employees and others.

Federal workers will be required to attest they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and other new rules. The newly strict guidelines are aimed at boosting sluggish vaccination rates among the 4 million of Americans who draw federal paychecks and to set an example for private employers around the country.

“Right now, too many people are dying or watching someone they love die and say if ‘I’d just got the vaccine,’ ” Biden said in a somber address from the East Room of the White House. “This is an American tragedy. People are dying who don’t have to die.”

Biden also directed the Defense Department to look into adding the COVID19 shot to its list of required vaccinations for members of the military.

The new guidance for federal employees reflects the reality that Biden’s national vaccination drive has fallen short of his goals.

Public opinion seems to have hardened around the vaccines, with a recent poll from the Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research finding that among American adults who have not yet received a vaccine, 35% say they probably will not, and 45% say they definitely will not.