White House Weighing Vaccine Mandates for Domestic Air Travelers, Nursing-Home Workers as COVID Delta Variant Spreads

The White House is in early talks about issuing a vaccine mandate among nursing-home workers and individuals who would engage in domestic air travel.

The White House confirmed on Friday that officials were looking for other avenues to increase the vaccination rates among Americans amid the concern of the Delta COVID variant.

As the Biden administration tackles requiring the vaccine among nursing home workers and individuals who would engage in domestic air travels, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that the talks are still in the early stage and "pre-decisional."

It was not the first time that the Biden administration made a move regarding vaccine mandates. A White House official earlier said that the administration also plans to require full vaccine status among foreign air travelers when travel restrictions in the U.S. are lifted.

On Friday, President Joe Biden said more mandates would come in the coming days. Last week, he noted it was "still a question" if the federal government could mandate that all citizens must be vaccinated. However, the White House later said that was not under consideration.

Psaki also touted the growing momentum among vaccine requirements taken by several sectors, including state governments.

Genesis Healthcare, the largest nursing home chain in the U.S., and United Airlines announced that they would require their workers to be vaccinated.

"We support these vaccination requirements to protect workers, communities, and countries," Psaki noted.

Fauci Says More Vaccine Mandates Will Roll

The nation's infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that more vaccine mandates would roll once the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully authorized the COVID-19 vaccines.

Fauci predicted that the vaccine mandates would not come from the federal officials, but the full authorization of the jab would "embolden" many groups to require them.

Fauci further noted that the full authorization would make businesses, colleges, universities, and enterprises more confident about the jab, making the vaccine a requirement among the institutions they want to enter.

More Than 100,000 New COVID Cases Recorded

Talks on vaccine mandates and Fauci's prediction came as the U.S. recorded more than 100,000 new COVID cases in the previous week amid the continuous spread of the Delta variant across the U.S.

On Thursday, officials recorded at least 109,824 new cases of the virus, as well as a seven-day average of 98,518 cases per day. The record-breaking number of COVID cases also marked a 277 percent increase from 26,079 recorded three weeks ago and the highest recorded since February 14, the Daily Mail reported, citing John Hopkins University's data.

Apart from the new cases, officials also recorded at least 535 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday. The number of deaths showed a 58 percent increase from 268 recorded three weeks ago and the highest death rate since June 9.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Joshua Summers

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