"Our Patience Is Wearing Thin": Biden Announces New US Vaccine Mandates

The new measures are Biden's response to a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic driven by the delta variant of the virus.

President Joe Biden said he'd order all executive branch employees, federal contractors and millions of health-care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and that his administration would issue rules requiring large private employers to mandate shots or testing. The new measures are Biden's response to a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic driven by the delta variant of the virus and by tens of millions of Americans who have refused to be vaccinated. Federal employees who don't comply could be dismissed, the administration said, and private employers might be fined. Biden also delivered some of his harshest criticism yet of the 25% of U.S. adults who've so far not been inoculated, saying that they're dragging out the pandemic that has claimed more than 650,000 lives in the U.S. "My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see?" he said. "We've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us, so please, do the right thing."