Biden to mandate COVID-19 vaccine for federal employees and contractors
CBSN
Washington — President Biden plans to sign two executive orders requiring all federal executive branch employees and contractors to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with no option for weekly testing for the unvaccinated, three people familiar with the plan told CBS News.
In July, Mr. Biden said the federal workforce would need to show proof of vaccination or submit to regular testing and socially distance in the workplace. The new mandate is part of a six-pronged strategy to battle the COVID-19 Delta variant and boost vaccinations as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to climb. Mr. Biden plans to lay out the plan in remarks at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.