President Joe Biden’s decision to mandate vaccinations for millions is a stark reversal after administration officials maintained for months that a federal requirement was not in the cards.
Biden unveiled a six-prong approach on Thursday to beat back the summer resurgence of COVID-19. His effort to increase vaccinations included vaccine mandates for companies that employ more than 100 people (whose employees may opt for regular testing instead), federal contractors, executive branch employees, and millions of healthcare workers whose employers receive federal funding.
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The following Biden officials were among the most outspoken in forswearing a federal mandate, which has received criticism from conservatives calling the move federal overreach.
President Joe Biden
His move to require the shots for millions of people or face disciplinary measures after months of favoring a carrot over a stick approach to cajoling vaccine holdouts represents a growing sense of urgency as a fourth wave of the pandemic appears to crest.
Biden initially opposed mandates.
“No, I don’t think [vaccination] should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory,” Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 4. “But I would do everything in my power — just like I don’t think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide — I’ll do everything in my power as president of United States to encourage people to do the right thing and, when they do it, demonstrate that it matters.”
Yet the administration eventually reversed, citing frustration over the roughly 80 million eligible Americans who have declined to get the shots.
“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see?” he said on Thursday. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us, so please, do the right thing.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki
Psaki had assured the public from the podium in the White House press room that the federal government did not intend to set such a wide-reaching mandate. On July 23, for instance, Psaki told reporters that requiring the shots is “not the role of the federal government.”
“What our role is and what we are going to continue to do is make the vaccine available,” Psaki said. “We’re going to continue to work in partnership to fight misinformation. And we’re going to continue to advocate and work in partnership with local officials and trusted voices to get the word out.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky
Walensky, who has been dogged by criticism over the agency’s mixed messaging about masking and what constitutes a full course of vaccination, has also come under fire this summer for her waffling on the administration’s plans to institute a vaccine requirement for large swaths of the population.
On July 30, she said, “To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”
.@BerkeleyJr To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) July 30, 2021
She had to walk back comments she made earlier that same day on Fox News, where she said that mandating a vaccine on a federal level was “something that I think the administration is looking into.”
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Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
Murthy has become a fixture in the White House COVID-19 response team’s regular press briefings, taking the lead in the group’s pleas to the public not to be fooled by misinformation spread about the vaccines primarily on social media. He has also maintained the administration’s goal of making vaccine requirements appealing to private entities, such as major corporations and small businesses, as well as educational institutions.
“We do not anticipate a federal mandate for vaccinations,” Murthy said on NPR on July 9. “So, I would not anticipate any direction for the federal government telling your university that they should require you to get a vaccine.”
