V.A. Issues Employee Vaccine Mandate, a First for a Federal Agency

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs will require 115,000 of its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two months, making it the first federal agency to mandate that employees be inoculated, government officials said on Monday.

The move comes as concern is growing that the substantial portion of the population that has not been vaccinated is contributing to the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. While it was a sharp departure from the Biden administration’s reluctance to embrace mandates, it was part of a broader shift in which New York City, many hospital chains and some private employers are deciding that the time has come to make being vaccinated a requirement.

“I am doing this because it’s the best way to keep our veterans safe, full stop,” Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, said in a telephone interview on Monday. The department is one of the largest federal employers and is the biggest integrated health care system in the country. The mandate will apply to workers who are “the most patient-facing,” Mr. McDonough said, including doctors, dentists, registered nurses, physician assistant and some specialists.

Beginning on Wednesday, those health care workers will have eight weeks to get fully vaccinated or face penalties including possible removal, he said. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, reiterated the Biden administration’s position on Friday that mandating vaccinations was a decision for the private sector companies and local communities. But the decision at the department reflects a growing consensus among private sector employers, health care centers, and state and local governments to test the legal waters on vaccine requirements as cases rise sharply around the nation.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/us/politics/veterans-affairs-coronavirus-covid-19.html

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I wouldn't be surprised if this will apply to PHS eventually too.

[marble falls]

1. The VA gets to deal with those who don't have anywhere else to go, it does an amazingly ...

... great job. A lot of vaccine deniers have had to die in a VA hospital, VA staff see the absolute worst that Covid can do with a population chock a block with all sorts of medical complications.

There needs to be a national mandate to vax and mask and limiting crowds.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. My dad worked for the VA

(when it was still called the Veteran's Administration) for 20 years before he died (he was 50 and had his 4th heart attack and that was that). He was a computer programmer from the 'mid-50s to the mid-'70s

Grew up a VA baby!!

[marble falls]

4. I worked for it in '73. When I came home the first day, I told my wife to promise me that I ...

... would not end up in a VA hospital.

Forty years later, when my Cadillac Health Insurance blew up, she signed me up for VA. It's not the old VA by a long shot! I am completely satisfied with my treatment, they've kept me alive and feeling very good.

[bluedigger]

3. Good!

I have a checkup scheduled next month, and after teleconferencing the last two times, I'm due to be poked and prodded.

[MichMan]

5. It should be required across the board for every single federal employee

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Well I think they are targeting those who are in the health fields who are exposed to covid patients

and that's why I also think that PHS might be next (if it's not already in effect, although I also know that PHS is one of the "uniformed services", and might have similar stipulations as the military)...

[Historic NY]

7. My niece will be happy, too many covid-19 exposures by unvaccinated colleagues..

she has had hers since March

[Mysterian]

8. Yay for the VA!

I had an appointment a few months ago, after I had received my first shot, and the doctor told me she had been vaccinated but not the assistant. I told the assistant she was crazy and the doctor said she had told the assistant she was crazy too. I don't want to receive care from dumbasses who flunked biology class.