BREAKING: Federal Agency Announces First Vaccine Mandate — Impacts 100,000 Workers

OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

And so it begins

Veterans Affairs becomes the first federal agency to mandate the COVID vaccine, Fox News reports.

Health care personnel will be obligated to take the drug. Rueters says this impacts more than 100,000 health care workers.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough decided to make the COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all VA health care personnel.

This includes physicians, dentists, nurses and others who work in patient-facing roles.

The agency says this is a “necessary step” to keep the veterans it serves “safe.”

Employees have eight weeks to comply and must be fully vaccinated.

McDonough said, “We’re mandating vaccines for Title 38 employees because it’s the best way to keep veterans safe, especially as the delta variant spreads across the country.”

“Whenever a veteran or a VA employee sets foot in a VA facility, they deserve to know that we have done everything in our power to protect them from COVID-19,” he continued. “With this mandate, we can once again make – and keep – that fundamental promise.”

An administration official stressed the importance of the move, saying it was imperative for patients to feel safe and not risk getting COVID from their health care providers. At this point, the Department of Veterans Affairs is the only federal agency that will require some employees to be vaccinated.

The announcement comes after the VA lost four employees to COVID-19 in recent weeks. All four were unvaccinated. The agency said at least three of the employees died due to the delta variant of the novel coronavirus.


TRENDING 👇 “Woke” Olympians Suffer 1st Loss Since 2004

The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team led is by “woke” coach Gregg Popovich, who once admitted that he is “embarrassed as a white person” as a result of the death of George Floyd.

The vast majority of U.S. Olympic basketball players, if not all of them, have participated in “woke” protests during the National Anthem during their playing history. Now the team lost to France in the opening game in Tokyo. This is the first loss since 2004.

Popovich has been leading the woke movement in the NBA, according to sports media reports.

The NY Post reported, “Team USA men’s basketball was fried by the French in a stunning opening loss at the Tokyo Olympics. The Americans led Team France by seven with under four minutes remaining, but the French scored the next 14 points for a shocking 83-76 victory Sunday at Saitama Super Arena.”