Requirement for all federal employees to get vaccine 'under consideration': Biden

President Joe Biden told ABC News on Tuesday that a mandate to require all federal employees to be vaccinated from COVID-19 is now "under consideration."

President Joe Biden said Tuesday afternoon that a mandate to require all federal employees to be vaccinated is now "under consideration." He said this one day after the Department of Veterans Affairs moved to require all health workers get a COVID-19 vaccine and shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant and reversed its mask guidance. "It's under consideration right now," Biden said when asked by ABC News if the federal government would expand the vaccine mandate. "But if you're not vaccinated, you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were." As he wrapped a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ABC News also asked the president about Tuesday's new guidance from the CDC, recommending masks for vaccinated Americans in public, and whether it would cause confusion, but Biden continued to focus on those who remain unvaccinated.