(CNN)President Joe Biden on Thursday will impose more stringent vaccine rules on federal workers, and take steps to encourage private businesses to do the same, during a major speech meant to lay out a new approach to combating the coronavirus.
Among the steps that the President will take is signing an executive order requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated, with no option of being regularly tested to opt out of the requirement, according to a source familiar with the plans. The President will also sign an executive order directing that same standard be extended to employees of contractors who do business with the federal government. The Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Service and National Institute of Health will also complete their previously announced vaccination requirements, which the White House estimates covers 2.5 million people. That is a significant move beyond the one Biden announced earlier this summer that required federal workers be vaccinated but allowed for those who opted out to be subject to stringent mitigation measures. The White House has said the federal government should act as a model for other businesses in their own vaccine mandates, and has praised large companies that require employees to be vaccinated. Biden on Thursday also plans to announce a major expansion to free testing, a step public health officials have said is critical to containing the virus, particularly as children return to school and some workers return to offices. And he will address the confusion over booster shots, though will not make any new announcements on when additional doses will be authorized for Americans. This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Well this ought to get quite interesting for me soon. I work for a contactor. Although I have worked remotely for 15 years or more, never visit customer sites and have probably gone in to the office 5-6 times in a decade, my company is big on compliance. Understandably so, in the normal course of business. But if Biden requires all employees to be vaxxed, they will do it.
Let them try and force me. They can fire me first. My 15 years of knowledge and dedication will leave with me. They can keep all the youngsters who only want to work 9-5 and don't have a clue how to do my job or have the contacts/relationships that I have. Besides, I've already calculated how much they'll have to pay me when I sue. 10 years of salary plus benefits and medical that I would have earned had they let me retire from the company. 😁