The debate on whether or not the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandated and required has been long on going. This is a discussion that rivals liberty and safety.
According to the Washington Post Joe Biden intends to announce a vaccine mandate on all federal employees Thursday.
If the employees opt out of the vaccine they will likely be subjected to forced regular testing for the virus.
The federal government employs over 2.1 million civilian workers according to the Office of Personnel Management.
The Post reported, The new rules will closely align with policies recently put in place for government officials in California and New York City, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the plan. The White House is not planning on firing government employees who aren’t vaccinated but will impose a number of restrictions on them as a way to encourage them to receive one of the vaccines that have received emergency-use authorization.
At this time the vaccine remains unapproved by the food and drug administration. The fear of possible long term effects of the vaccine is a major cause for concern in many Americans.
Currently all used vaccines are under the FDA’s emergency use authorization. This allows the FDA to authorize unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases.
The product must meet some criteria but not all that an approved product would normally be required to meet.