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posted by martyb on Friday September 10 2021, @07:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the get-vacinated-and-wear-a-mask dept.

With COVID out of control, Biden unveils hefty vaccine mandates:

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a sweeping six-pronged plan to try to regain control over the COVID-19 pandemic, which is wildly raging once again in the US.

[...] The main focus of the president's "Path out of the Pandemic" plan is on reducing the number of unvaccinated people in the country. As such, the plan's most prominent elements are hefty vaccination requirements for millions of federal employees, health care workers, school employees, and even employees of private businesses.

Biden signed an executive order Thursday requiring COVID-19 vaccines for millions of federal workers plus millions more federal contractors. The new vaccine mandate eliminates a previous option that allowed federal workers to undergo regular testing in lieu of vaccination.

In addition to mandating vaccines for federal workers, Biden will also require vaccination for over 17 million health care workers who work at facilities that receive federal funding. The administration had previously required vaccination for all staff of federally funded nursing homes. The new requirements will extend vaccine mandates to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies—most facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

[...] The administration is also working on a rule—to be implemented through the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration—that will require employers with 100 or more workers to ensure that their workforce is fully vaccinated or submits to regular COVID-19 testing. The rule is expected to apply to over 80 million employees nationwide. OSHA is also working on a separate rule that will require those employers to provide paid time off to get vaccinated.

For schools, Biden will require vaccination for the nearly 300,000 staff in federal Head Start and Early Head start programs. He will also put pressure on governors to get all teachers and school staff vaccinated. Last, the administration will push more schools to implement regular testing, which will be funded by $10 billion the administration already allocated to schools earlier this year.

Also at CNN, www.aljazeera.com


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday September 10 2021, @12:16PM (9 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Friday September 10 2021, @12:16PM (#1176581)

    What's so different about covid that you view vaccination as a threat?

    What's different is that antivaxxers have spent about 20 years telling people that tested and approved vaccines are scary even though they have approximately zero evidence to justify their claims. When you look at all the wild speculations trotted out to argue against Covid vaccines, they're basically identical to what was trotted out to argue against MMR vaccine, and HPV vaccine, and even the decades-old DPT vaccine.

    Once you strip away the BS, what you're left with is "I don't understand what's going on with these things, therefor everyone telling me to get it must be up to no good."

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by EJ on Friday September 10 2021, @01:04PM (8 children)

    by EJ (2452) on Friday September 10 2021, @01:04PM (#1176591)

    "God will protect me from the disease, but He's not powerful enough to protect me from any possible adverse effects from a vaccine."

    I wonder how many people will get to Heaven and have God tell them, "I sent you two boats, a helicopter, and a vaccine..."

    • (Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday September 10 2021, @03:11PM (7 children)

      by Opportunist (5545) on Friday September 10 2021, @03:11PM (#1176643)

      If god was so powerful, why didn't he protect anyone from the disease before the vaccine was available?

      He sure had a lot of time to prove his worth. Guess he either can't or doesn't want to do it.

      In other words, either he's impotent or an asshole. I'll let you decide.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by EJ on Friday September 10 2021, @03:32PM

        by EJ (2452) on Friday September 10 2021, @03:32PM (#1176653)

        Life is not binary. The third option is that God doesn't control every aspect of human life.

        Note the quotation marks I used in my post. I don't have any personal belief that God is responsible for anything that happens to me until I die.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:20PM (#1176676)

        Dude, you are sadly misinformed; data demonstrate that He very much did.
        https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/the-impact-of-vaccines-on-mortality-decline-since-1900-according-to-published-science/ [childrenshealthdefense.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:47PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:47PM (#1176694)

        Guess he either can't or doesn't want to do it.

        Or maybe, just perhaps, He is applying a bit of tough love: Matthew 3:7: Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' [biblegateway.com]

        In other words, either he's impotent or an asshole. I'll let you decide.

        There does appear to be assholes aplenty all about us these days. I just don't think in this case God is one of them.

        • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Opportunist on Friday September 10 2021, @04:54PM (2 children)

          by Opportunist (5545) on Friday September 10 2021, @04:54PM (#1176701)

          So you can't test god, I see.

          In other words, god is by definition unscientific. Because one of the fundamental aspects of science is testing your hypoteses.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 11 2021, @02:41AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 11 2021, @02:41AM (#1176869)

            No, you can test God. You may not like the result, but you can certainly try testing Him. This is your last free clue.

            • (Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday September 11 2021, @10:12AM

              by Opportunist (5545) on Saturday September 11 2021, @10:12AM (#1176934)

              What would be an appropriate test for a god? I'd already be happy with one that proves existence.

        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday September 11 2021, @12:22PM

          by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Saturday September 11 2021, @12:22PM (#1176960) Homepage
          > I just don't think

          Yup, we detected that
          --
          Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves