Biden Says Vaccine Mandate For Federal Employees 'Under Consideration'

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his administration was mulling the possibility of requiring COVID-19 vaccines for all federal employees.

Asked during a press conference whether he would impose a vaccine mandate on the federal workforce, Biden said, Thats under consideration right now.

But if youre not vaccinated, youre not nearly as smart as I thought you were, the president added.

BREAKING: Pres. Biden tells ABCs @sarahkolinovsky that he is considering a mandate for all federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.

Thats under consideration right now, but if youre not vaccinated youre not nearly as smart as I thought you were. https://t.co/si3klnHefV pic.twitter.com/6XxbDy6PRk

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BREAKING: Pres. Biden tells ABCs @sarahkolinovsky that he is considering a mandate for all federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.

Thats under consideration right now, but if youre not vaccinated youre not nearly as smart as I thought you were. https://t.co/si3klnHefV pic.twitter.com/6XxbDy6PRk
ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 27, 2021

CNN , citing a source with direct knowledge of the issue, reported that a vaccine mandate for federal workers was imminent.

Biden will announce the mandate on Thursday, the network reported. It will require all federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing and other measures, CNN said.

Bidens remarks on Tuesday came on the heels of a reversal in mask guidance by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which said earlier in the day that it now recommended vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with substantial and high transmission of the coronavirus. Those descriptions currently apply to more than 60% of all U.S. counties .

The CDC had previously said that fully vaccinated people could eschew masks despite World Health Organization advice urging otherwise. But CDC officials said the agency was changing its guidance because of worrisome new science about the delta variant.

In recent days, I have seen new scientific data from recent outbreak investigations showing that the delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations. This is not a decision that we or CDC has made lightly.

When later pressed as to whether the shifting CDC advice would sow confusion, Biden said it was the unvaccinated who were fueling uncertainty.

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Wed be in a very different world if unvaccinated Americans chose to get the vaccine, he said.

So get vaccinated, he said.