The White House has issued an executive order revoking the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees and contractors, effective May 12.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday policies issued in September 2021 meant to implement vaccine mandates for federal employees and pandemic safety protocols for contractors enabled the government to achieve a compliance rate of 98 percent by January 2022.
“Following this important work, along with continued critical investments in tests and therapeutics that are protecting against hospitalization and death, we are no longer in the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and my Administration has begun the process of ending COVID-19 emergency declarations,” the president wrote in the latest EO.
“Vaccination remains an important tool to protect individuals from serious illness, but we are now able to move beyond these Federal requirements,” he added.
The new policy came a week after the White House announced that it will stop implementing COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal contractors and employees and foreign air travelers.
