Travelers wearing protective masks have their nose swabs taken by a nurse at a COVID-19 testing site inside Terminal B at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), on Sunday, November 22, 2020.
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The Biden administration will end its mandate to vaccinate federal employees, contractors and international air travelers next week.
The White House said in a statement Monday that those vaccine requirements will end on May 11, the same day the Covid public health emergency expires.
“While immunization remains one of the most important tools for improving the health and safety of our employees and promoting workplace efficiency, we are now at a critical point,” the White House said. another phase of response when these measures are no longer needed.”
Although Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have fallen dramatically this year, the virus still kills more than 1,000 people a week.
The White House said the Department of Health and Human Services will also begin phasing out the mandate to vaccinate health care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, it will end immunization requirements for Head Start programs.
And the Department of Homeland Security will lift vaccination requirements for people entering the United States via land borders with Canada and Mexico, according to the Biden administration. U.S. citizens, citizens, and permanent residents are never subject to those requirements.
HHS and DHS will provide more details on closing these vaccine requests in the coming days, the White House said.
The Biden administration has implemented vaccine requirements for healthcare workers, federal employees, contractors, and international air travelers as part of an effort to increase lackluster vaccination rates and make slow the spread of the virus as delta variation increases in late 2021, followed by omicrons during winter 2022.
The mandates have been met with stiff opposition and lawsuits from critics, who have criticized the requests as going too far, while the White House insists they are essential to protecting health community health.
