Veterans Affairs is first US agency to make Covid-19 vaccine jabs mandatory

The mandate came as California and New York City announced new vaccine requirements affecting workers.

Four unvaccinated Veterans Affairs employees have died of Covid-19 in recent weeks. Picture: AFP

The US Department of Veterans Affairs said on Tuesday AEST its more than 100,000 health care personnel would have to get Covid-19 shots, becoming the first federal agency to institute a mandate as California and New York City ­announced new vaccine requirements affecting workers.

Joe Biden’s administration had previously been reluctant to support such measures, but is now confronted with a Delta variant-driven surge that is sweeping mainly through America’s tens of millions of unvaccinated.

“Whenever a Veteran or VA employee sets foot in a VA facility, they deserve to know that we have done everything in our power to protect them from Covid-19,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “With this mandate, we can once again make – and keep – that fundamental promise.” He added that four VA employees had died of Covid-19 in recent weeks, all of them unvaccinated.

Personnel such as physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses and others have eight weeks to be fully vaccinated.

This month, VA officials said more than 70 per cent of the agency’s 300,000 employees were fully vaccinated. The new order applies to 115,000 people, according to the Military Times.

The move came as part of a broader shift, with New York City announcing municipal workers will need to get vaccinated or submit to weekly tests, and California ordering a similar measure for its government employees but also extending the rule to private sector health workers. New York’s order will affect more than 300,000 city personnel, including police, firefighters and teachers, and will go into effect September 13, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

California’s directive will apply to almost 240,000 state workers and hundreds of thousands more private sector health workers, with full compliance required by August 21, according to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office.

The US is in the midst of a surge driven by Delta, the most contagious coronavirus variant, which now accounts for more than 89 per cent of US cases.

Some 52,000 people are being infected every day, according to the Covid Act Now tracker.

Hotspots include the states of Arkansas, Florida – which ­accounts for almost a quarter of all new cases – Louisiana and Missouri. They have all lagged ­behind the national vaccination rate, but White House coronavirus co-ordinator Jeff Zients said last week that these states were recently registering higher immunisation rates in light of the summer surge.

Just over 49 per cent of the US population has been fully vaccinated, well below the 85 to 90 per cent experts now estimate is required for population immunity.

On Tuesday, 57 medical groups representing millions of doctors, nurses and pharmacists called for mandatory vaccinations for all health staff.

A recent WebMD report of 2500 hospitals showed that about one in four health care workers have not been vaccinated – primarily nursing aides, emergency medical technicians and nurses.

AFP