US health department mandates coronavirus vaccine for 25,000 employees

By Andy Roesgen

CHICAGO, United States (AA) - The Health and Human Services (HHS) became the latest US government agency on Thursday to require coronavirus vaccinations for its workforce.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the vaccine mandate would apply to clinicians, researchers, contractors and volunteers at the Indian Health Service, the National Institutes of Health and the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

In all, it applies to about 25,000 employees who deal directly with patients in federal medical or clinical research facilities.

"Our number one goal is the health and safety of the American public," Becerra said in a statement, "including our federal workforce, and vaccines are the best tool we have to protect people from COVID-19."

The agency has more than 80,000 employees. Those who do not fall under the new mandate are already under a new order by US President Joe Biden requiring federal workers and contract workers to prove their vaccination status or submit to regular testing. But the order is not a direct vaccine mandate.

The decision by HHS follows an order last month from the Veterans Association that its health care workers be vaccinated, and a recent announcement by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that service members be required to get the vaccine to maintain military readiness.

And a growing number of large companies, from Google to Ford Motors and Tyson Foods, are now requiring a COVID-19 vaccine for employees as the delta variant surges across the US.