Travelers wearing protective masks receive nasal swabs from nurses on the COVID-19 testing station in Terminal B at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Sunday, November 22, 2020.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Biden administration will end Covid-19 vaccination mandates for federal employees, contractors and international travelers next week.
The White House said in an announcement Monday that these vaccination requirements will expire on May 11, the identical day the Covid public health emergency expires.
“While vaccination stays probably the most essential tools for improving employee health and safety and promoting workplace productivity, we at the moment are in a distinct phase of our response when these measures are not any longer needed,” the White House said.
Although Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have fallen drastically this 12 months, the virus still kills greater than 1,000 people per week.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also begin rolling back its vaccination mandate for health care facilities that take part in Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said. As well as, it will remove vaccination requirements for Head Start programs.
In response to the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security will waive vaccination requirements for people entering the US through land borders with Canada and Mexico. US residents, residents and everlasting residents have never been subject to those requirements.
HHS and DHS will provide more details on the top of those vaccine requirements in the approaching days, the White House said.
The Biden administration has implemented vaccination requirements for healthcare staff, federal employees, contractors and international air travelers as a part of a push to spice up poor vaccination rates and slow the spread of the virus as delta variant surged in late 2021 followed by omicron in winter 2022 .
The mandates were met with fierce opposition and lawsuits from critics who denounced the necessities as government overruns, while the White House stressed they were essential to guard public health.