The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it now requires all employees who work in patient care to get fully vaccinated, joining the Department of Veterans Affairs as the second Cabinet agency making vaccines mandatory, Politico reports.
The order applies to approximately 25,000 of DHHS’s 80,000 people in its workforce. It will apply to the employees in the Indian Health Services and National Institutes of Health who have patient contact or who are working on clinical trials. The order will also cover 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, including those who are currently being deployed in hot zones in the United States to cover medical care in hospitals.
“Our number one goal is the health and safety of the American public, including our federal workforce, and the vaccines are the best tool we have to protect people from Covid-19, prevent the spread of the Delta variant and save lives,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said.