Department of Veterans Affairs to expand vaccine mandate washingtonexaminer.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonexaminer.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced on July 26 that its health care workers are required to get the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. President Joe Biden confirmed the VA’s announcement, which applied to its 115,000 medical staff members. The VA warned that any worker refusing the COVID-19 vaccine could face termination.
In a July 26 press release, the VA said its mandatory vaccination order applied to all Title 38 health care personnel who work or visit Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities nationwide and those who provide direct care to people being served by VA. These included physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants and chiropractors.
VA Now Requires COVID Vaccine - The Corvallis Advocate corvallisadvocate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from corvallisadvocate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
First Posted: Jul 26, 2021 09:45 PM EDT
Photo : Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
U.S. President Joe Biden slammed a reporter for asking him a question about the COVID vaccine mandate, calling the reporter a pain in the neck.
The question was off his preferred topic of Iraq, with the reporter involved NBC s Kelly O Donnell asking him to comment on frontline Veteran Affairs workers being required to get a COVID Vaccine, according to a Fox News report.
Biden told the reporter that she was such a pain in the neck. He added that he is still going to answer the question as they have known each other for so long.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it will require its health care professionals to be vaccinated within the next two months as coronavirus infections have more than doubled in the past month at its medical facilities.
VA data show roughly 300,000 employees – nearly 80% – have been vaccinated. But that includes staff not involved in patient care, and the percentage has varied widely by facility. Earlier this month, VA officials confirmed that 85% of staff at the facility in New Orleans had been inoculated, compared with 59% in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement Monday that mandating vaccines is “the best way to keep veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country.”