Biden proposes to give $ 100 in cash to incentivize vaccination

Biden: The mask is not a political statement 2:59

(CNN) -

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a series of new steps his administration will take to try to vaccinate more Americans and slow the spread of the coronavirus, including requiring that all federal employees must attest to being vaccinated. against covid-19 or face strict protocols.

The new measures respond to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 in the US The vast majority of people with severe cases of covid-19 are not vaccinated.

"This is an American tragedy. People are dying — and will die — who don't have to die. If you're out there unvaccinated, you don't have to die," Biden said during remarks at the White House.

"Read the news. You will see stories of unvaccinated patients in hospitals, while they are lying in bed dying of covid-19, and they ask 'Doc, can I get the vaccine?'

Doctors have to say, 'Sorry, it's too late.'

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Biden said all federal government employees and contractors will be asked to attest to their immunization status.

Employees who have not been vaccinated "will be required to wear a mask at work regardless of geographic location, physical distance from all other employees and visitors, meet a weekly or twice-weekly screening requirement, and be subject to official travel restrictions, "the White House said before Biden's speech.

The president also announced that he is directing the Department of Defense to "investigate how and when they will add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccines for members of the military," according to the White House.

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The administration announced on Thursday other efforts to incentivize vaccines, including extending paid vacations for employees who take time off to vaccinate themselves and their families.

Biden said employers would be reimbursed.

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The Treasury Department said Biden will also ask states, territories and local governments to do more to incentivize vaccination, including paying $ 100 to Americans who get vaccinated, through funds from the American Rescue Plan.

Finally, the president called on school districts across the country to host at least one pop-up vaccination clinic for the next several weeks in an effort to vaccinate more children 12 and older.

The requirement to vaccinate federal employees is not a mandate, officials have insisted, and most federal employees who do not get vaccinated will not lose their jobs as a result, CNN previously reported.

However, the decision marks a turn away from encouraging Americans to get vaccinated on their own time to take a step toward responsibility for the unvaccinated.

• ANALYSIS |

  Vaccination mandates are politically risky, but they can work

Several groups representing federal workers throughout the government are already expressing concern about the requirement, including groups representing federal law enforcement officials, IRS managers, and members of the U.S. Border Patrol. among others.

Other groups, such as the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, have come out in support.

The goal, advisers have said, is to make not being vaccinated so complicated that those who have not received the vaccines have no choice but to receive them.

It's an approach that leaders in Europe are testing, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who required a vaccination test or a negative test in public places.

And some states, including New York, have also said that government employees will need to show they have been vaccinated or get tested weekly.

Biden's advisers say they don't believe there is the power to demand that all Americans receive vaccines.

But they believe that oversight of the federal workforce can be a powerful model for other employers considering their options for requiring vaccinations.

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The prevalence of the highly contagious delta variant in the US and the low acceptance of the vaccine has prompted the federal government to take a series of measures to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that everyone, including vaccinated people, wear masks indoors in areas of substantial or high transmission. of covid-19.

The agency also recommended masks for all children in elementary and middle schools, even those who have been vaccinated.

The Department of Veterans Affairs also recently announced that it would require frontline healthcare workers to get vaccinated for the next two months.

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The latest CDC data indicates that 49.4% of the total US population is fully vaccinated.

And despite a previous downward slope in the rate of vaccinations, 389,963 people are now starting their vaccinations each day, based on the current seven-day average.

This is the highest number in more than three weeks, but it is still lower than the pace set by millions who were getting injections every day earlier this year.

On Monday, the Justice Department determined that federal law does not prohibit public agencies and private companies from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, even if the vaccines are only authorized for emergency use at this time.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday on CNN that health passes through the fully vaccinated, such as those used in some parts of Europe, "may very well be a way forward."

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But he acknowledged that there was little the federal government could do to require vaccines in the general population.

The White House and members of the Biden administration have also previously indicated that they support decisions by private companies to require COVID-19 vaccines.

"Those are decisions that the federal government is not going to make," US surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.

"It will be the institutions that do them, but I think they are very reasonable, because this is a time when we have to take all possible measures to protect not only ourselves, but the people around us, from the covid- 19. "

CNN's Kevin Liptak, DJ Judd, Liz Stark, Jacqueline Howard and Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.

coronavirusCovid-19Joe Biden