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President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against Covid-19, or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The announcement will come in remarks where Biden is also expected to lay out a series of new steps, including incentives, in an attempt to spur new vaccinations as the Delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the country. It will also follow the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated over the course of the next two months. (Mattingly and Hoffman, 7/27)

President Biden, in what would be a significant shift in approach, is considering requiring all civilian federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel, officials said on Tuesday. White House officials said they would reveal more about the president’s plans later this week. Mr. Biden said he would deliver a speech on Thursday about “the next steps in our effort to get more Americans vaccinated.” (Shear and Stolberg, 7/27)

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a Covid vaccine mandate for all federal employees is “under consideration right now.” “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,” Biden told reporters at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where he addressed the intelligence community in the afternoon. (Ward, Korecki and Owermohle, 7/27)

As the Biden White House weighs vaccine mandates for businesses and the federal workforce, some of its firmest outside allies are bristling at the idea. A steep divide has emerged among labor unions — as well as between members and leaders — over whether to require workers to be vaccinated. (Rainey and Korecki, 7/28)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The state of California. New York City. Hospitals and nursing homes. Colleges and universities. Employers are putting COVID-19 vaccine mandates into place and it’s getting attention. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said a requirement is under consideration for all federal employees. But what happens if workers refuse? Federal legal guidance out this week suggests the law is on the side of employers. Vaccination can be considered a “condition of employment,” akin to a job qualification. (Anderson and Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/27)

Lawyers with the Justice Department determined that federal law does not prohibit public agencies and private businesses from mandating COVID-19 vaccines under emergency use authorization according to an opinion posted by the DOJ on Monday, FOX News reported. Three major government entities – the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, California and New York City – said Monday they would require some or all of their government employees to get vaccinated or be tested weekly. The vaccines are still awaiting full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. (Williams, 7/27)