By Teaganne Finn and Shannon Pettypiece - NBC News
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his Administration is considering requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
"That is under consideration at this time, but if you are not vaccinated, you are not as smart as you thought you were," he
said, without elaborating.
The statements come on the heels of new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the use of masks indoors in areas with high transmission rates and when data reveals that fully vaccinated people They not only get COVID-19, but they also spread it to others.
Registered nurse Sheba Phillip prepares a syringe with a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine during a vaccination event outside the Bronx Writing Academy in the Bronx, New York, June 4, 2021. Mike Segar / Reuters
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also stated that they recommend that all school-age children wear masks when they return to classrooms in this new school year.
The president promised to reveal
the next steps in his coronavirus vaccination campaign later this week
, which could include new incentives for people to get the injection.
"The more we learn about this virus and the delta variant, the more we have to worry," Biden said, adding that if another 100 million Americans were inoculated "we would be in a very different situation."