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While on vacation in Lake Tahoe, President Joe Biden told reporters that he submitted an official request for congressional funding for the development of a new COVID-19 vaccine.
“I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress — a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary and works,” Biden said Friday afternoon. “Tentatively, not decided finally, it is recommended that everybody get it, no matter what they got before.”
Biden attempted to use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to enforce vaccine mandates for nearly all private sector workers in the United States in September 2021. Workers who declined the vaccine risked termination.
The Associated Press reported at the time that Biden’s COVID-19 action plan mandated all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting roughly 80 million Americans.
The 17 million employees at healthcare facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also were required to be fully vaccinated, according to the AP. Biden also signed an executive order mandating vaccination for federal workers and contractors, with no option to test out.
Thousands of U.S. military members and federal employees faced disciplinary action or were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
In January 2022, the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s vaccine mandate for large businesses, while keeping the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at facilities receiving federal funding in place.
In early May, Biden ended the requirement that most international travelers to the United States be vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as similar rules for federal employees and contractors.
Then-White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha told reporters that U.S. worker vaccine requirements led to more than 90% of employees getting vaccinated.
“We think those requirements saved thousands of lives but we’re at a different place,” Jha said in May.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic announced on Aug. 1 that it was launching an investigation into the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates and policies at federal agencies.
The investigation will examine “the development and implementation of overreaching, federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates” at the Department of Defense, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement.
“Although all federal mandates have since been rescinded, overturned, or otherwise ended, the detrimental consequences of these policy decisions continue to affect thousands of Americans, and the federal government’s egregious interference in the sacred doctor-patient relationship will undoubtedly have long-lasting ramifications,” Wenstrup said.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.