The White House Finally Surrenders on Covid-19 Mandates for Federal Employees, Contractors, International Travelers

“The Biden/Harris Administration” is finally ending a number of federal Covid-19 mandates. The White House announced on Monday that it is ending the Covid-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees, Contractors, international travelers, head start educators, and CMS-certified facilities.

“In 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration announced COVID-19 vaccination requirements to promote the health and safety of individuals and the efficiency of workplaces, protecting vital sectors of our economy and vulnerable populations,” the statement read. “Since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95%, and hospitalizations are down nearly 91%. Globally, COVID-19 deaths are at their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic. Following a whole-of-government effort that led to a record number of nearly 270 million Americans receiving at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, we are in a different phase of our response to COVID-19 than we were when many of these requirements were put into place.”

“Today, we are announcing that the Administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for Federal employees, Federal contractors, and international air travelers at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends,” the statement continued. “Additionally, HHS and DHS announced today that they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for Head Start educators, CMS-certified healthcare facilities, and certain noncitizens at the land border. In the coming days, further details related to ending these requirements will be provided.”

“Our Administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the statement added. “The Federal government successfully implemented requirements for its workforce in a way that increased vaccination to achieve 98% compliance, reflecting employees who had received at least one dose of a vaccine or had a pending or approved exception or extension request filed by January 2022. We also put in place vaccination requirements for certain international travelers to slow the spread of new variants entering the country and to allow our healthcare system time to effectively manage access to care if faced with an increase in cases and hospitalizations.”

“Our COVID-19 vaccine requirements bolstered vaccination across the nation, and our broader vaccination campaign has saved millions of lives,” the statement went on. “We have successfully marshalled a response to make historic investments in broadly accessible vaccines, tests, and treatments to help us combat COVID-19. While vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, we are now in a different phase of our response when these measures are no longer necessary.”

Multiple times, members of the Biden administration pledged not to issue federal vaccine mandates, but then it proceeded to order them anyway.

In December 2020, then President-Elect Biden made the pronouncement that he wouldn’t make vaccines mandatory.

“I don’t think it should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory,” Biden said at a news conference in Wilmington, Del. “Just like I don’t think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide.”

“I’ll do everything in my power as president of the United States to encourage people to do the right thing and when they do it, demonstrate that it matters,” he said.

On July 25, 2021, then White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said a vaccine mandate was “not the federal government’s role.” In May 2021, Psaki effectively said the same thing, as well.

“The government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” Psaki said at the time.

“There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential,” the press secretary added.

In July 2021, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky also said there would be “no federal mandate.”

“To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government,” Walensky wrote in a Twitter post. “There will be no federal mandate.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci himself also said in 2020 that federal vaccine mandates would be “encroaching upon a person’s freedom.”

The White House’s announcement comes shortly after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton revealed that he is leading an investigation into alleged Covid vaccine fraud. The attorney general will be investigating major pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for potential violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

In an exclusive interview with The Post, Paxton revealed that he is looking into whether the pharmaceutical companies engaged in gain-of-function research and misled the public about it.

“The catastrophic effects of the pandemic and subsequent interventions forced on our country and citizens deserve intense scrutiny, and we are pursuing any hint of wrongdoing to the fullest,” Paxton said in a statement.

“This pandemic was a deeply challenging time for Americans,” he continued. “If any company illegally took advantage of consumers during this period or compromised people’s safety to increase their profits, they will be held responsible. If public health policy was developed on the basis of flawed or misleading research, the public must know.”

He also claimed that Big Pharma had a “vested interest” in the widespread distribution of its Covid-19 vaccines because it led to record profits.

“This vested interest … combined with reports about the alarming side effects of vaccines, demands aggressive investigation,” he continued.

The implementation of federal vaccine mandates “means this investigation into the scientific and ethical basis on which public health decisions were made is of major significance.”

Paxton is demanding that the aforementioned pharmaceutical companies hand over documents related to the “decision-making behind pandemic interventions forced on the public, especially when a profit motive or political pressure may have compromised Americans’ health and safety.”

This move by Texas could have significant implications for the legal immunity granted to the manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccines, potentially opening the door to class-action lawsuits from individuals who suffered rare but serious adverse effects from the mRNA jabs.

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Source: Becker News Rephrased By: InfoArmed

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